Good news for sellers though, the boost in the Spring market has been widely attributed to a selling rush in the lead up to the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) on 1 June giving buyers more choice at competitive prices. The number of properties entering the market is now a huge 20 per cent up on Marchs figure.
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This is the ninth consecutive month in which we have seen a house price rise, and unsurprisingly this has calmed the levels of first-time buyers somewhat, holding back to make up only a 25 per cent share of the market.
Chief executive of haart, Paul Smith, commented: Confidence remains high, and with increasing numbers of sellers putting their property on the market, the supply and demand imbalance has been slightly addressed.
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However, first-time buyer confidence has certainly not been reinstated this month as affordability remains a problem. It looks almost certain that the Bank of England will decide to raise the interest rate in May and this could cause the first-time buyer level of plummet, damaging market activity.
As the south moves far further from the affordability bracket, properties in both the south and south west have seen the highest percentage asking price discounts, whilst those in the south east have seen the greatest average price increase since April last year going up in value by £30,000.
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