The latest forecast from the Council of Mortgage Lenders paints a more positive outlook for the housing market than it did when it last forecast in December.

It now thinks repossessions this year will hit 65,000, 10,000 fewer than previously thought, with fewer mortgages falling into arrears and net lending shrinking by just £5 billion as compared with £25 billion.

On the basis that if a gloomy forecast comes true it is probably because the policy makers were either not listening or they screwed up, it suggests that the economic medicine being administered is at least easing some of the pain in the housing market.

And this is how I interpret the commentary. It suggests that the feeding through of large interest rates has eased pressure on households and this has combined with the “raft of measures taken by the authorities” which has limited the decline in available funding.

But very sensibly the forecast steers well clear of proclaiming a robust recovery, despite the recent upbeat signs coming from the market.

Simply there are too many downside weighted variables given the weak economic backdrop.

And despite the more upbeat forecast, it still leaves transactions at 700,000, which is less than half what one might expect in a more normal market.