'Best Time to Buy in a Long Time,' Agents Claim

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) delivered a very upbeat assessment of the UK housing market today.

President of the association, Chris Brown, said that now was the best time to buy property "for a very long time" - despite the current economic downturn, which has led to reduced home sales and tighter mortgage conditions.

The ongoing effects of the credit crunch have led to falling house prices, restrictions on credit and rising costs of living: most recent price data from lender Nationwide puts the monthly reduction in the value of UK property at 0.9 per cent, while the government's own inflation benchmark currently stands 1.3 per cent above target at 3.3 per cent.

Nevertheless, the NAEA's own analysis suggests that the property slowdown, which has seen home sales drop by around 50 per cent over the past year, can be turned to the buyer's advantage. This is because, with the drop in sales, the ratio of homes to buyers has also doubled to 15:1.

However, buyers were also warned that they needed good credit records and enough savings to put up a significant deposit to take advantage of the conditions, due to the general tightening-up of credit criteria among lenders that has also been a feature of the financial crisis.

Mr Brown commented: "If you are a dynamic purchaser free of any problems…I think [the current situation is] very good news. There has probably never been a better time to buy for a very long time."

He added: "[Buyers] are going to be taken a lot more seriously because there isn't another buyer just ordinarily as there was say a year or two years ago where you would think you won't sell it to the first buyer because there will be another around the corner, well there might not be another one around the corner. I certainly think they [buyers] have got a lot of pulling power and a lot of influence on the market."