Even though the experts expect the UK housing market to fall back over the next 12 months, when you consider that the average house in the UK costs around £200,000 it is nearly impossible for first time buyers to get onto the housing ladder, without over stretching themselves.  So what can you do?

While the authorities have made much noise about helping first time buyers, there is very little that they can do.  If they offer financial assistance then they open themselves up to criticism for favouring a particular group of society, but if they do nothing they will further feed the frenzy for housing associations, which have pushed prices further and further ahead.  The bottom line is that you can’t have a free market and then complain when it does not go the way of the government.  Will prices ever come back down to more realistic levels?

Highly unlikely.  While prices have flown over the last few years there seems little chance of them falling back too far because :-

• There is still a firm demand behind the scenes.
• The authorities could not manipulate lower prices, because this would place many people in deep financial debt.
• There are still too few homes being built in the UK to cover demand.

The situation really is dire for first time buyers going forward, and even in the event of a property crash could we realistically expect prices to fall by 50%? If that were the case unemployment would be up and even fewer people would be able to afford a home.  This really is a nightmare scenario for the first time buyer, and there is little likelihood of prices and wages falling into line in the short or even medium term.