I think that house prices will level off for the rest of this year as the cash buyers dwindle and the 'bank of mum and dad' deposits run out . Next year I expect a steady but slow decline with vendors clinging to their hopes - until the General Election in May. Once the current government is history, and can no longer prop up the housing market with QE and pressure on banks to delay repossessions, and anything else that they think up in the mean time, I anticipate a second crash, gathering pace as people begin to realise that the UK is in rather a lot of trouble.
So I expect to buy, with my tiny pot of cash, at the end of next year at the earliest, and more probably in 2011.