Twelve buyers for every home

House hunters queue up to land property of their dreams.

10:11 18 May 2004

Competition in the housing market means there are now 12 potential buyers for every home on the market, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has revealed.

With prices being pushed up by continuing high demand it truly has become a seller's market.

This trend is currently reflected in the fact that buyers are achieving very little of a discount off asking prices. At present they are paying only 2.93 per cent less than the asking price, compared to last year's average of over four per cent.

Melfyn Williams, president of the NAEA, said: "With prices continuing to rise there is inevitably talk of a crash."

He added: "However it is looking unlikely that we will see dramatic falls this year, and when the market eventually slows down it will be a softer landing than the spectacular crash predicted by some doom mongers."

The report found that most estate agents expect a slowdown later this year citing a lag in the buy-to-let market (19.5 per cent), terrorism (9.8 per cent) and media speculation (9.8 per cent).