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The housing market has experienced a surge of confidence with two thirds of people saying they think now is a good time to buy a property, according to research.
The study by website Rightmove found that around 66% of those questioned thought it was currently a good time to buy a home, while just 2.1% believed it was a good time to sell one.
Despite the fact that seven out of 10 people surveyed expected prices to fall further during the year, nearly half were planning to buy a new home over the course of the year.
The results suggest that people believe it is currently a buyers' market, in which those who have the funds in place to go ahead with a purchase can negotiate big discounts.
This year seems to have been identified as the perfect time to negotiate a purchase, with only 38.4% thinking it would still be a good time to buy a home in 12 months' time. Meanwhile, just over a third of those questioned said they thought 2010 would be a good time to sell a property.
Miles Shipside, commercial director at Rightmove, said: "With interest rates at historic lows and set to fall further, and property deals available at around 25% below peak boom prices, buying has got a whole lot cheaper.
"Other assets now seem a lot less solid than bricks and mortar, so the time-to-buy pendulum is swinging from negative to positive.
"It's aided by some homeowners' mortgage repayments being the lowest they have ever experienced and the prospect of them getting even cheaper - a real turnaround from just a few months ago."
Of the 28,212 people surveyed, around 16% said they would be willing to borrow more than four times their salary to buy a home, while 49% said the recent turbulence in the credit market had made them more wary and they would only borrow up to three times their pay.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
