First-time buyer values slump

9 May 2008

First-time buyers are considering buying properties of a lower price, according to Moneyextra.

There was a 5.75 per cent fall in April on the previous month in the average property price that first-time buyers were looking at.

The value of houses that were being considered by those wanting to gain a foothold on the property ladder has fallen by £20,000 last month from December 2007 when it was at its peak.

The decrease in prices that first-time buyers are willing to pay has been facilitated by the fact that there is a relatively small number of them looking for houses.

Robin Amlot, the senior editor of Moneyextra, said: "While it may be getting tougher to get a mortgage now, it would appear that those first-time buyers who are in a position to buy are driving much harder bargains with sellers."

The mortgage market will feel the effects of the credit crisis for two years according to Iain Cornish, chairman of the Building Societies Association, the BBC has reported.

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