Adrian Thompson, of FoxWood Maclean, takes a look at the property market this December and suggests that this is just the time to pick up a seasonal bargain.

December can sometimes be a bit of a non-month in the estate agency year. People seem to have a lot more things to think about than moving, and the Christmas break seems to go on for so long nowadays.

The weather is often far from ideal and most people who wanted to move before Christmas made their buying decisions by the early autumn.

But that is what makes December such a good month to go house-hunting.

There are not so many other homebuyers about, and as it's so quiet some sellers can be only too keen to listen to the sort of offer they wouldn't have considered a month or two ago.

In years past the market used to pick up in the spring. But in more recent times it has kick-started into life in January. With the financial world still in so much disarray, there is great uncertainty about what will happen in 2012. But that is what helps makes this December such a good time to be prowling the market for property.

There are plenty of very good houses and flats for sale right now with owners anxiously looking for buyers.

There are some first-time buyers creeping into the market - especially now that it often makes more sense to buy a property rather than rent one.

This helps second and third-time buyers, and with lenders slowly starting to take the choke off mortgage availability there is movement in the market when property is properly priced and attractively presented.

So instead of hitting the shops so much this December in a pre-Christmas frenzy, or getting ready for the early sale bargains, why not hit the estate agents and grab a property bargain? Unlike so much we buy at this time of year, a property is not just for Christmas it is for life.

It is surely one of the best stocking-fillers we could give our families and ourselves.