First-time buyers "ready to pounce"

Changing conditions within the housing market may help a number of first-time buyers get onto the property ladder next year, according to one expert.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, claimed that despite many would-be homeowners "struggling" to purchase their first property, conditions would "gradually thaw" in the new year.

Despite his positive predictions, Mr Rubinsohn acknowledged that many first-time buyers are finding it difficult o get onto the housing ladder because banks are less willing to allow smaller deposits.

"Those on lower quartile income would have to save almost 100 percent of their take home pay to have a chance of raising a deposit for the average priced house," he commented.

However, if house prices begin to fall next year, first-time buyers may be well placed and "ready to pounce", he added.

Mr Rubinsohn made his comments following a report by the Council of Mortgage Lenders which found that gross mortgage lending fell last month.

The organisation noted that gross lending stood at £30.7 billion in November - eight per cent below the figure recorded a month earlier.

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