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Members of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) reported that 16% of sales in the last month were to first time buyers, an increase from 6% the previous month and the highest percentage recorded since July last year.
House prices are still rising, say the NAEA – house price changes over the last 12 months averaged 8.2%, which represents the highest annual rate of inflation since July.
And people are becoming more savvy about pricing too: the actual sale price and asking prices continued to converge - the actual sale price achieved, as a percentage of asking price, is 97%, up from 95% last month and the highest percentage over 12 months.
Houses are also selling quicker – the average time between instruction and sale has reduced to 6.5 weeks from 7.3 weeks last month, with the average number of viewings before a sale also down to 11.4.
Melfyn Williams, President of the NAEA, comments: “There are encouraging signs coming from the housing market in this month’s survey, with both house prices and number of first time buyers up on previous months.”
“With interest rates remaining historically low, and employment levels also near an all time high, the economy looks set to support another healthy year. Those predicting a housing market crash this year will in no doubt have egg on their faces.”
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