The NAEA has once again found itself at odds with other commentators over first-time buyers.

The NAEA said that sales for first-time buyers slumped in August to the lowest for over a year.

However, this morning agents Your Move and Reeds Rains proclaimed the “strongest summer on record” for first-time buyers.

They are predicting that official figures will show 30,200 sales for first-time buyers, up by more than a quarter (27.4%) since May when there were 23,700.

On a monthly basis, say the two LSL firms, first-time buyer transactions matched July’s total of 30,200 sales, meaning that transactions remain at their highest since August 2007.

The agents say that in the June to August period, there were 89,800 sales to first-time buyers, up 5,000 from the same period last year when 84,800 sales were completed.

The picture painted by Your Move and Reeds Rains could not be more different from that given by the NAEA.

The organisation said that sales to first-time buyers fell to their lowest level since July 2014.

It claims that in August, just 20% of sales were to first-time buyers, down from 23% in July and 24% in June.

This, says the NAEA, indicates that movement in the market is taking place higher up the ladder – although on Monday, Rightmove reported that home-owners were finding it increasingly difficult to move.

Mark Hayward, managing director of the NAEA – which also reports that housing supply fell to an 11-year low in August – said: “First-time buyers are being squeezed out of the competition.”

* Meanwhile, the British Bankers Association has reported that mortgage borrowing in August showed the largest increase in five years.

The number of mortgage approvals by the big banks was 80,221 – 23% higher than in the same month last year.

See also next story.