First-timers now make up nearly three in ten of those who expect to buy a property over the next year.
This is the highest proportion of intending first-time buyers since Rightmove began its series of Consumer Confidence Surveys in Q4 2009.
At that time a marginally lower proportion of 27.6% was recorded, and since then it has plunged as low as 22.2%.
Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “The results come as a welcome surprise, hopefully this three year high in intending first-time buyers will come to fruition.
“It seems that some five years into the property market downturn, more are getting their heads and wallets around the new rules of first-time home-ownership, though they still face some testing challenges.
“The property market needs this upward trend in first-time buyer activity to continue as first-time buyers perform an essential role at the bottom of the property market food chain.
“They give second-steppers the resources to trade up the housing ladder, as well as alleviating demand and upwards rental pressure in the rented sector.”
Rightmove’s research also revealed the average age of a firt-time buyer has fallen.
When surveyed in October 2011, the average age of intending first-time buyers was 32. In this survey, some six months later, the figure has fallen by one year to 31 years old.
Shipside said: “It has taken time for would-be first-time buyers to come to terms with the paradigm shift in the housing market.
“Where once they were being pursued by risk nonchalant lenders, today’s aspiring homeowners must get their finances in shape and make sure they are fit enough to jump the high credit-score hurdles that are now in place.”
Raising a deposit is still the biggest concern for 33% but it is a big improvement on 42% a year ago.
Meanwhile nearly two-thirds of intending first-time buyers are looking to get on the housing ladder with a partner.
“Where there is a will there’s a way,” said Shipside. “And buying with a partner rather than on your own certainly makes the property ladder more accessible.
“People still have a love of property ownership, and having a partner in love is the way most people are achieving that goal.”
