Demand among home buyers up in January, report reveals

Posted: 11 Feb 2009 10:39:07 GMT

While growing numbers of Britons are now looking to get back into the property market, many are still being thwarted by a lack of affordable mortgages, it has been claimed.

New research carried out by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has found that its members are now seeing a rise in the number of prospective buyers expressing an interest in the housing market.

Indeed, despite the wealth of pessimistic forecasts in the UK media, many believe that the worst could be over for the property sector and that now is the time to land a bargain.

However, the study also found that the number of properties being sold by estate agents across the country has fallen from an average of ten to 9.9 over the past three months, with RICS putting this discrepancy down to tightening mortgage criteria and a relative lack of government intervention.

"This interest has yet to translate into sales but transactions may pick up in the coming months if the government follows through on its recent announcement and introduces guarantees for the issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities," the report noted.

Earlier this month, a study by Rightmove found that half of those consumers questioned were looking to buy a property as a result of the lower prices now available.

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