More than one in 10 (13%) 18 to 34-year-olds are considering buying property for the first time in the next year, but of those 16% are considering taking out a loan to cover the cost of the downpayment they need.

The data comes from Moneysupermarket.com, and it's a sign of how far we still have to go before the property market becomes rational. Has the tightening of lending criteria undone what falling prices have achieved, resulting in a tantalising glimpse of a purchase for the first-time buyer who doesn't have stinking rich parents? With everybody some people suggesting this may turn out to be a small window of opportunity, can we blame the frustrated first-time buyer from doing what they have to do to secure a mortgage? Lenders might. (Read the T&C carefully before supplying a commercially borrowed deposit.) The other concern... what happens when interest rates begin to rise from their current artificially low level?

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