According to the Building Societies Association Property Tracker report, just 2% of consumers fear the housing market is overheating despite an improvement in buying conditions.

When asked what single word they would use to describe the housing market now, one in five people said ‘recovering’. A further fifth said that the market is ‘stable’ and just one per cent describe the current market as ‘crashing’ - all strong indications that market sentiment has improved.

The majority of consumers - just over 60 per cent - now believe that house prices will rise in the coming year, the highest proportion since the Property Tracker survey began in 2008. In addition, the major perceived barriers to property purchase have declined, the most notable being access to mortgage finance, now seen as a barrier by 39 per cent of people, down from 46 per cent three months ago, and 60 per cent in 2011.

This wider availability of mortgages for first time buyers with smaller deposits is starting to make a difference and in the first seven months of the year a quarter of all mutual lending was to those with a deposit of ten per cent or less. Government schemes such as Funding for Lending (FLS), Help to Buy and the resultant positive media coverage about the housing market may have also filtered through, helping to reduce the perception of these factors as barriers to home ownership.

Commenting on the results, Adrian Coles, Director-General of the BSA, said, “Signs of recovery in the market have been much discussed over the summer and these Property Tracker results confirm an improved outlook. We are however, still clearly in recovery mode and the cautious words of those who have been sounding warnings about a market already at risk of overheating need to be listened to, but it would be wrong to take any steps at this point that might damage the recovery in its early stages.”