Thursday 26th April 2007
First-time buyers have increased their share in the property market, it has emerged.
However, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) warns that the housing market may be experiencing "the calm before the storm".
According to the NAEA, first-time buyers accounted for 12.6 per cent of house purchases in March, up by 0.3 percentage points since February.
While the association welcomed the year-on-year increase from 8.9 per cent in March 2006, it added that a healthy market should see about one in four purchases made by first-time buyers.
Charles Smailes, president of the NAEA, said: "There is a great deal of uncertainty in the market at the moment."
Financial services provider Nationwide added that interest rates must not be raised too steeply in response to the latest inflation figures.
Chief economist Fionnuala Earley termed a May rate hike by the Bank of England "a certainty" after inflation reached 3.1 per cent recently.
But she cautioned that "too sharp a rate hike could undermine market confidence and dry demand up swiftly".
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