The housing market showed signs of another slowdown last month as demand for residential property declined, with little improvement in the number of house sales.

The National Association of Estate Agent’s (NAEA) market report for April shows that despite the Easter holiday – traditionally a period of increased buyer interest – home buying activity fell, with only a slight rise in the supply of housing.

An average of 294 house-hunters registered with an estate agent in April compared to 297 in March. This compares some 348 house-hunters on average five years ago, in April 2007.

The number of sales made during the month remained in-line with figures recorded in March 2012 with an average of 7 sales per branch. This was also the case with the first time buyer market, which accounted for an average 24% of overall house sales in both March and April 2012.

Wendy Evans-Scott, President of the NAEA, said: “Despite sales figures remaining stable, there is little sign of any green shoots of growth in the levels of property supply and demand.

“Growth is being held back by continued restrictive lending policies from the major banks and lack of an adequate mechanism to support the first time buyer market, a situation which will only get worse if mortgage rates rise as predicted.

“At the same time, supply remains a huge issue, with latest Government figures showing fewer homes are being built. We support recent industry calls from groups like the National Housing Federation and Shelter for more house building.”