Manisha,

For personal ties, each claim is handled on a case by case basis. So possibly for some people, owning a property might be enough, and for others it might not. I could even come down to which case officer is reviewing the application. I know for a fact that US Citizenship interviews depend very much on which case officer is conducting the interview. I've known people that were grilled for several hours, and others that had a pleasant chat for 10 minutes.

For the timing, 2 out of the last 5 years is a cummulative measure. If you add up all your time over the last 5 years, and achieve or exceed 2 years total, that will satisfy the criteria.

cheers