Government intervention facilitating re-emergence of first time buyers

Posted under General by Jermaine

The National Association of Estate Agents is encouraged by the re-emergence of first time buyers on to the sagging UK property market, welcoming it as a positive impact of the Government’s decision of increasing the stamp duty threshold to £175,000.

The association has conducted research on recent trends in the market which revealed that there was significant rise in the number of sales per agent from 5 sales in August to 6 in September for the first time since January 2008.

The British Bankers’ Association also revealed an increase in mortgage lending in September. NAEA chairman, Chris Brown, while commenting on findings of research, called for further action from the Government to encourage people to buy back into the property market. He added that in spite of some positive indications from the study, many potential buyers were still cautious and not ready to move unless necessary.

Chris Brown pointed out that property prices were continuously falling and drastic changes by the Government were needed to restore buyers’ confidence. He remarked that decision made on stamp duty last month was not enough.

According to HM Revenue & Customs data, property sales in the UK fell by 53% over last year, while some have predicted 35% fall in the UK property prices by 2010.

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