The estate agency association also reported the number of homes on the market increased by just one per estate agency branch, up from an average of 61 homes in March to 62 in April.
Wendy Evans-Scott, president of the NAEA, said: “Despite sales figures remaining stable, there is little sign of 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 the 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.”
Evans-Scott added that the NewBuy housing scheme went some way to assisting house hunters but pointed out that this was limited to new homes only.
She said: “The government needs to finally tackle head-on the problems facing the industry; as the UK re-enters recession and uncertainty remains across the eurozone, measures need to be taken to restore confidence in a market so crucial to the UK’s recovery.”
