Despite a fall in the number of house hunters (per agency) registering during March 2013, from an average of 289 in February to 286, sales of homes remained strong, according to the National Association of Estate Agents’ (NAEA).

This puts the ratio of house hunters purchasing homes at levels not seen since the summer of 2011, with one home being sold for every 39 house hunters in Q1 2013, improving from one every 43 in Q1 2012.

Mark Hayward, President of the NAEA, said: “House hunters who are set on completing their purchases have not been deterred by the cold start to spring and sales have remained resilient, despite the conditions. With the cold weather finally withdrawing we now expect that the overall number of house hunters may rebound over the next couple of months.

“First time buyers (FTB) are still in need of further help however. The declining FTB numbers this year prove that existing Government schemes outside the new home sector are still failing to give this portion of the market acceptable access to mortgage finance, and more must be done in the short term.”

The average number of FTBs entering the market decreased by 24% in February to 19% in March, this is the second month in a row that FTB figures have decreased. However also for the second consecutive month the supply of homes increased, with the average number of properties available per branch increasing from 58 in February to 60 in March. This rise follows a similar increase between January and February.