NAEA insists first time buyer shortages go on

The National Association of Estate Agents still insists only 20 per cent of sales are being done to first time buyers - repeating a controversial claim it made a month ago.

Its figures for July, just released, repeat the June claim and say that for the second month running just one deal in five involves a first timer. Back in June, the NAEA claim won it a front page mention on the Daily Mail as well as valuable column inches elsewhere.

However, the association's reiteration of the 20 per cent figures, this time for July, appears once again to contrast sharply with recent data from other industry players.

LSL, for example, says the number of first-time buyers hit a seven-year high in July with 30,000 first time buyer sales, about a quarter above those seen in the same month a year earlier, and the largest number since August 2007.

The Halifax and the Council of Mortgage Lenders, too, have produced data showing significant surges in the numbers of first time buyers.

The NAEA has been sharply criticised for the earlier data, notably with a Savills researcher taking to Twitter to describe some of it as bonkers.

Association president Simon Gerrard told Estate Agent Today that the June figures, compiled from reports from around 500 agencies across the country, were accurate.

But he also suggested that in his own 11-office agency the number of first time buyers in July appeared to rise, which if true appears to be an experience at odds with the NAEA's assessment.

This month, the claim about the 20 per cent first time buyer share was carried in the final paragraph of the NAEA press release announcing its view of the market.