Despite all the doom and gloom which we have all been seeing in the news over the past few months with regard to the housing and loan markets, it would appear that first time buyers are still eager to get themselves onto the property ladder and many believe that now is the ideal time to buy, despite the pessimistic outlook from many industry experts.

A recent survey, conducted amongst a group of under thirty five year olds by Onesearch Direct, a private research company, revealed that 70 per cent of this age group are currently saving to build themselves a suitable deposit to go with a mortgage or homeowner loan, in order to be able to buy their first house.

When asked about the future of the housing market, 88 per cent of those interviewed said that they thought the housing and mortgage loan markets were likely to pick up over the course of the next twelve months and most felt that now was an ideal time to buy property.

It is good to see that potential first time buyers realise that they now require a much larger deposit to be able to buy a house, as the high loan to value mortgages have all but disappeared and are actually saving towards this goal.

The main obstacle which faces this group of would be home owners, other than the larger deposit requirements, is the lack of availability of finance through a mortgage or homeowner loan, although the recent Government financial package to help banks and other lenders finally seems to be filtering through the system, thereby creating more lending power for mortgage loan providers and along with the newly raised stamp duty level and reducing interest rates, now could be an ideal time to buy.

First time buyers are a vital part of the housing market and if we are starting to see movement in this area of house purchase, it could be just what is needed to drive the rest of the property market forward and move it into some positive territory.