First-time buyers are being squeezed out of the market, with a 20% monthly drop in the number of  first-time purchases in June.

The claim, from the NAEA, appears to flatly contradict yesterday’s Halifax report which said that there had been the highest number of first-time buyers in the six months to the end of June than at any time since 2007.

However, the NAEA says that first-time buyer numbers dropped between May and June from being 25% of the purchaser market to 20%.

According to the NAEA, the proportion of first-time buyers was just 20% last month, down from 25% in May. By contrast, the Halifax put the proportion of first-time buyers in relation to the whole market at 46% – the highest since 2000. The Halifax also said that the average age of a first-time buyer is now 30.

The NAEA, however, says that home buyers aged 18-30 represented just 3% of all home sales last month. It said this was the lowest percentage it had ever recorded.

Nor is the NAEA’s bad news over. The organisation said that nearly 80% of its members believe that curbs by the Bank of England will affect future numbers of first-time buyers and home movers.

Mark Hayward, NAEA managing director, said: “Things are getting even tougher for first-time buyers.

“Not only do you now need to stump up ridiculously large sums of money in terms of deposits and Stamp Duty to be able to get on the ladder, but new rules mean buyers will also have to prove they can easily afford repayments now and in the future.

“Alongside this, a scaling back of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme and the implementation of the MMR in April will also have a significantly negative impact on the first-time buyer market.”

According to the NAEA, the average number of properties per branch last month stood at 46 – up from 44 in May. However, applicant numbers slipped very slightly, from 374 per branch in May to 371 in June, and sales agreed fell from ten in May to nine.

Still, at least the Telegraph can’t accuse the NAEA of talking the market up. See next story.