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House hunter numbers hit 12-month low
16/03/10
Edited by Andy Jowett. Some 258 house hunters registered with the UK's estate agents in February, down from 291 the month before and the lowest figure in a year, according to one industry body.
Statistics from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) show that despite the drop in prospective residential property owners entering the market, the average number of houses sold per agency actually increased last month, rising from 5.7 in January to 6.8.
The number of homes on the market also increased, edging up from 55 per agency at the start of the year to 56 in February.
Sales to first-time buyers accounted for 24 per cent of all transactions handled by estate agents last month, up one per cent on January.
NAEA president Gary Smith said that the figures underlined the "increasing appetite for property" in the UK and he called for builders to receive additional support to improve the supply of new homes.
"More needs to be done to make house building a top priority over the next 12 months if we want the market to strengthen rather than stall," he commented.
According to government data, builders completed 118,000 properties last year, the lowest annual figure since 1946.
