Mortgage News
NAEA: Sales strong but house hunters down
Estate agents have revealed that sales across the property market remained strong in September, despite a drop in house hunters for the second month.
A National Association of Estate Agents’ (NAEA) report for last month showed that the average number of house hunters per branch fell from 250 in August to 247 in September.
However, the number of houses available for sale rose to 69 per branch in August to 72 in September, while the number of sales remained the same at seven per branch on average.
NAEA president Michael Jones said: “It is good to see that sales have remained consistent but the drop in the number of first-time buyers is still a concern.”
He added: “Assisting the first-time buyers market is imperative if we are to strengthen the housing industry in this country. This means that the banks have to become less restrictive in their lending policies.”
The report also revealed that the percentage of sales made to first-time buyers dropped from 21% in August to 20% in September, suggesting that this group continues to encounter difficulty in obtaining a mortgage.
Aldermore Insights with Jon Cooper: Edition 9 – Why lending strategy is becoming more central in buy to let
Sponsored by Aldermore
Jones added: “Plans by the FSA to introduce tougher measures on mortgages are likely to serve only to restrict this part of the market further, and we would urge the, to refrain from doing so.”