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Sales to first-time buyers fall by 10%

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  • 04/01/2016
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Sales to first-time buyers fall by 10%
The amount of property sales made to first-time buyers fell by 10% in November, and estate agents fear it could get worse due to a lack of supply, research has found.

While sales have decreased on the whole by 1%, normal for the time of year, the amount of sales made to first-time buyers decreased drastically in November, after an initial growth period from July to October, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).

While the Chancellor has outlined plans to help get first-time buyers on the housing ladder, 53% of NAEA members think the group will continue to feel squeezed out of the market, due to the lack of affordable housing.

The number of house hunters grew by 20% in November, from 336 prospective buyers on average registered per estate agent branch in October, to 403 in November.

Meanwhile, the number of available properties per branch fell marginally from, on average, 43 to 41 in November, leaving 10 prospective buyers for each available property on the market.

Martin Hayward, managing director for the NAEA, said that the research showed house prices were set to rise by 50% by 2025 and a that failure to act now will impact first-time buyers, second steppers and last steppers, forcing many out of homeownership.

“The government has made efforts to address the issue of supply and demand, with Osborne outlining plans to build 200,000 new starter homes in his Autumn Statement, but four fifths of our agents think it simply isn’t enough,” he said.

He added that supply is now outweighing demand so heavily that the figures cannot solely be attributed to seasonality and that the housing market crisis needs addressing as a matter of urgency.

“It’s all very well planning to build houses, but we need to move to action and get and the bricks and mortar on the ground, if we’re to solve the crisis we’re faced with,” Hayward said.

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