House prices were helped slightly with the influx of first time buyers that came to the market in the first of the year.  These buyers were looking to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday that was ending on March 24 after two years.  It offered a 1 per cent discount on a property up to £250,000 for first time buyers. 

Whether this increase in buyers in the market will continue is due to be seen.  If house prices could get a boost in areas outside of London homeowners would get to stop seeing their equity levels decline.  The stamp duty holiday ended but a new scheme has begun to help first time buyers get into new builds at lower deposit levels of 5 to 10 per cent.

Peter Rollings, CEO of estate agent Marsh & Parsons, remarked, “The flurry of first-time buyers trying to secure mortgages in time to beat the stamp duty deadline is still filtering through the most recent lending figures, creating a trend of growth in lending to those who need finance the most.

“Whether or not this will continue in coming months following the increased cost of moving remains to be seen, but there have been underlying improvements in the market that should not be overshadowed by the stamp duty driven demand. Encouragingly, despite the ongoing fears of the eurozone crisis, lenders increased average income multiples to first time buyers in February – effectively boosting the amount of money the average buyer can access relative to their salary.

“If this continues, it will go some way towards supporting the lower tier of the market and compensating for the ill-advised removal of the stamp duty exemption in March.”