A report released by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has found that the property market picture is still very regional but elements of the market appear to be stabilising.

The NAEA report asked its members to comment on a number of key areas. The number of viewings made on a property prior to selling was 14, which has increased by two from this time last year. The average difference between asking and selling price was 4.7% which the NAEA saw as sellers becoming ‘more realistic’ with the prices that they could achieve. There was a drop in the number of buyers on estate agents books from 249 in March to 237 in April, which show that buyers are remaining cautious. The number of properties on agent’s books increased to 84 in April from 76 in March, which perhaps highlights a shortage of buyers in the market although there is always a seasonal increase at this time of year. The agents also reported that they are still selling houses with an average of seven sales in April, which is consistent with the figures from March.

The news was not so good for first time buyers, with agents again reporting a drop in the number of first time buyers from 8.3% in March to 7.7% in April.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, told PIN: “I believe that stability will continue but I don’t have a crystal ball. My view is that the underlying factors that support the market - historically low interest rates, low unemployment and latent demand still exist. However, the effect of the credit crunch needs to be fully born out with banks once again lending to each other at sensible rates. That needs to feed through to consumers being able to find mortgages at reasonable rates and moreover the confidence to move before we really see what will happen.”