New research has suggested that the coming year could well be heralded as ‘the year of the home-buyer.’ It appears that house buyers are not expecting any further falls in property prices, as recent statistical evidence shows that as little as 3% of potential buyers are delaying a decision on buying until prices see further falls. Despite the fact that just over half of Britons surveyed in January 2009 felt that property prices would be unlikely to recover until the latter part of 2010, almost 30% recently surveyed now believe that residential property prices are beginning to rise, with 18% replying that prices had most likely reached their lowest possible levels.

With regards to potential first-time buyers, again, almost one-third are delaying the purchase of their first property in order to save sufficient funds for the deposit, and 10% are waiting for market conditions to give them reassurance with regards to job security. Conversely, the belief that residential property prices have bottomed out has made people generally less positive about the possibility of negotiating the price of a possible property. More than 20% of those questioned believe that it might now be possible to negotiate the price of a property down by 15% of the market valuation, which compares to around 30% that believed that such a negotiation and subsequent agreement could be reached when asked back in January 2009.

It has been stated that the events of the past year have revealed a real change in people’s general attitudes to house buying. Rather than waiting until house prices have fallen further, people are generally planning to buy and save up in order to furnish the deposit. They are also willing to negotiate their asking prices down from the original asking price, even despite the much stricter current lending criteria as well as the possibility of further rises in house prices.

Analysts also see the continuation of all-time low interest rate levels as of vital importance to house buyers of getting the right mortgage at the best mortgage rates possible, and generally recommend that buyers and re-mortgagers seek the best professional advice where the current mortgage market is concerned.