Since the price of property has fallen significantly over the course of the last twelve months and now interest rates on secured loans are at the lowest level in many years, a large number of people are starting to come round to the idea that it might actually be rather a good time to consider buying a house, whether it is as a family home, or as an investment.

In the most recent survey, conducted by the Building Societies Association (BSA), 46 per cent of those people interviewed thought that now was probably a good time to think about buying. This figure has increased from 34 per cent in September and shows some positive signs for the housing and secured loan markets.

Of course, the main problem faced by anybody wanting to buy a house at the moment, is that of securing the necessary finance through a secured loan or mortgage, as banks and building societies continue to impose strict lending criteria on their loan agreements.

However, for someone with a clean credit history there are still plenty of good secured loan deals available on the market, although to get the benefit of these deals, a potential borrower will be looking at a loan to value ratio of around 70 per cent maximum.

For someone who would require a high loan to value, has a less than perfect financial history, or doesn’t quite fit the mould of a perfect borrower, it is still extremely difficult to obtain the secured loan they want and unfortunately, this is likely to be the case for some time yet.

But on a more positive note, if you are in the enviable position of having a suitable deposit and a clean financial record, there are some great deals on secured loans out there and property prices are more affordable than they have been for a long time, so to answer the question at the top of this article is…yes, if you’ve got the money, there’s never been a better time to buy a house!