Buyers 'with cash reserves' will benefit

First-time buyers who have built up significant cash reserves will be able to benefit from the slowing market, though others may be less fortunate, according to Savills.

The estate agency has said that while a slowdown will provide opportunities, these will largely be confined to those who do not have to seek out one of the most lenient mortgage deals.

The credit crunch has had the effect of limiting the number of products on the market, Savills noted, with more innovative products such as mortgages with a loan-to-value of 100 per cent or more now harder to come by.

"The first-time buyers who [price falls] will help are those who have accumulated relatively high levels of cash reserves, and who are well placed to buy," said Savills director of research Lucian Cook.

"The people who are well placed to buy are simply going to be fighting through a much lower sea of people… Less brochure collectors, less serial viewers; the people who are going to be in the market to buy are really going to be in the market to buy."

"[But] in the short term, it's unlikely to help that many first-time buyers because they're still going to be reliant on mortgagefinance," Mr Cook predicted.

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