Positive outlook for housing market

Published: February 22, 2008

The latest indicator suggests that the UK housing market is on the road to recovery.

Figures from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) for January show that many market indicators picked up in the month.

The organisation's housing market report reveals that housing stock, agreed sales and registered buyers all increased.

Provisional figures from the NAEA had suggested that this would be the case and Stewart Lilly, president of the organisation is delighted with the figures.

"It is very encouraging to see the New Year start optimistically as buyers and sellers make a welcome return back to the market," he commented.

"The past couple of interest rate cuts have seemed to have taken effect on boosting consumer confidence and the market has started to stabilise and see a renewed sense of optimism set in.

"What's more, first-time buyers have increased their share once again, indicating better times ahead for this sector of the market. We hope this positive trend will continue throughout the year," continued Mr Lilly.

The report showed that first-time buyers increased their share of the market by 1.5 percentage points between December and January.