First-time buyers 'glimmer of hope'
Updated on 18 December 2008
The proportion of first-time buyers entering the housing market increased for the third month in a row in November, new figures showed.
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said 10.4% of all properties sold during the month were bought by first-time buyers, up from a low of just 8.3% in August.
It said the improvement offered a "glimmer of hope" among otherwise gloomy statistics as the property market suffered from its traditional seasonal downturn.
House prices continued to fall during November, while there was also a dip in both the number of sales agreed and the number of house hunters in the market. The group said the Christmas slowdown meant that the full impact of recent interest rate cuts and Government announcements to help the housing market would not be felt until the New Year.
Chris Brown, president of the NAEA, said: "November, and indeed December, is always a quiet time for the housing market because people are reluctant to move home over the festive period.
"Bearing that in mind, and after what has been the most difficult year for the market in a very long time, these figures are definitely not as bad as expected. In fact, while it may seem a meagre offering, the glimmer of positive news that some of these figures reveal can give estate agents across the country some hope for a more prosperous 2009."
The average number of sales agreed per agent fell to six in November, down from seven during the previous month, although they remained above August's record low of five. At the same time, the average number of house hunters agents had registered on their books dropped to 186, down from 196 in October, while the number of unsold properties per estate agent also dipped to 87, down from 98 the previous month.
The NAEA attributed all of the falls to the market slowing down for Christmas, with people reluctant to either put their home up for sale or look to buy a new one during the festive season. But research carried out for the Building Societies Association (BSA) pointed to a brighter market in 2009. The group found that 46% of people now thought it was a good time to buy a property, up from 34% in September and just 27% in July.
There is also a perception that mortgages are now more affordable, with just 37% of people worried about the affordability of monthly mortgage repayments, down from 70% in July. But as the economy heads in to recession, a lack of job security is now seen as the biggest barrier to buying a home, cited by 58% of people, while 56% still thought buyers would face problems getting the mortgage they needed.
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, said: "With sentiment playing such an important role in the property market, the gradual increase in the numbers of people who believe it is a good time to buy bodes well for 2009. Although buyers are increasingly optimistic about the future of the property market, it is clear that the threat of recession will mean that even these optimistic buyers will bide their time and wait to see what happens to both property prices and to the economy as a whole before they make their play."
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