House buyers are now aware they have the upper hand and are taking the time to make repeated visits to check out the property and local crime statistics before making an offer, a survey from the Yorkshire Bank has found.

One in five (22%) now check out council figures on burglary and car crime before making an offer on a house.

Furthermore, one in four buyers (27%) say they would now expect to be able to visit a property several times before making an offer - up from 21 per cent six months ago.

Steven Glass, head of marketing at Yorkshire Bank, said: "There is tentative evidence that the stalemate between buyers and sellers that dogged the first half of 2005 may be over. However, buyers are becoming increasingly fussy about what they purchase."

"It's no longer a case of ensuring the house is up to scratch or checking out the immediate neighbours. Buyers are putting in their homework to ensure their costly investment is a good one for the long term, and that includes avoiding areas where it is likely your car or home is more likely to be broken into."

Yorkshire Bank also found buyers are looking for greater value for money, with more than one in four (26%) now prepared to try and offer under the asking price even for a property they really wanted - an eight per cent increase since the start of the year.

Change in seller attitudes

Sellers are also taking heed of advice not to price their property out of the market, according to Yorkshire Bank's research. Just one in six (16%) would now opt for an estate agent simply because he or she provided the highest valuation.

Recently, both the National Association of Estate Agents and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors called on sellers to be more realistic about pricing if they wanted to sell their property.

Steven Glass said: "It appears that it is sellers who have helped break the stalemate in the housing market by not just pricing their property realistically, but by accepting offers from increasingly fussy buyers likely to offer under the asking price."

Confidence boost

Further evidence of increasing confidence in the housing market is that one in two (50%) now expect the value of their property to increase over the next 12 months. This compares with the 40 per cent predicting increasing values six months ago.

These findings are supported by the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which reported a 20% increase to £11.9 billion in lending for new purchases in June (May 2005: £9.9 billion).