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Analysis from moneysupermarket.com has revealed that the Chancellor's Budget cornerstone - the abolition of stamp duty for anyone purchasing their first property under £250,000 - has provided a welcome kick start to the housing market, while the rest of the population have given the Chancellor's plans a big thumbs-up in principle.

In the week immediately following the Budget, moneysupermarket.com saw a 15 per cent jump in the number of prospective first-time buyers visiting its mortgage comparison channel. 

More than half of young people want to own their own home but have no idea how they will finance the purchase of a property, according to property investment firm Mill Group.

In a survey of 1,676 24 to 40 year-olds, 40% said they thought that the next 12 months would be a good time to buy a property but more than half believed it would be impossible to raise a deposit.

Buying a home has become a pipe dream for millions of young Britons – with half believing they will have up to a decade or more before getting a foot on the property ladder, and only then with the help of their parents, according to a new poll.

The YouGov survey, commissioned by the National Housing Federation, revealed that 86% of 18-30 year-olds, who do not own their own home, could not currently afford to buy a home if they wanted to, despite recent falls in house prices.

The number of loans to first-time buyers hit a two-year high in December 2009, driven by a rush to buy properties in the £125,000 - £175,000 bracket before the year-end stamp duty concession expired, according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The CML has also published new analysis showing how affordability, especially for first-time buyers, is complicated by the effect of low interest rates when capital repayments are taken into account.

December saw 24,900 loans to first-time buyers, the highest number since November 2007. At £2.9 billion, first-time buyer loans rose 26% from November both by volume and value.

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But for many, the property slump has resulted in dreams of owning their own home slipping out of sight. However, don't despair, the path to owning your first home can be made much easier with the right advice and information at your fingertips.

Home affordability for potential first-time buyers (FTBs) has improved significantly.

In 2009, the average price paid by an FTB was affordable for someone on average earnings in nearly four in ten (39%) of local authority districts, according to this year's Halifax First-Time Buyer Annual Review.

Dunfermline Building Society has dropped its fixed-rate and tracker mortgage prices by up to 0.80% in a move designed to stimulate the first-time buyer market in the remaining weeks before Stamp Duty exemption expires.

The Dunfermline has dropped its two-year tracker mortgage from 3.59% to 2.79% and its two-year fixed-rate mortgage from 4.29% to 3.79% for house purchases - and is urging potential buyers to act fast to beat the Stamp Duty Holiday deadline.

Two-thirds of first-time buyers believe that a lack of sufficient mortgage deposit is preventing them from owning their own home, despite Government efforts to encourage them into the housing market with shared equity schemes which require little or no deposit.

A survey of 3000 potential first-time buyers by Miller Homes found that 28% of buyers still believe that they will need to save for at least five years before finally getting the keys to their own home.

First-time buyers are starting to come back into the property market, according to new research..

A survey of Equifax customers who have purchased a copy of their credit report found that 70% of the first-time buyers who responded felt more confident about stepping onto the property ladder as a result of the drop in property prices.

The introduction of a number of new products for the first-time buyer sector is also likely to have had an effect, with 75% saying that they had put a hold on their plans in the last year because of the lack of mortgage products on the market.

More is needed to be done to assist first-time buyers to take their first step on the property ladder, according to a group of solicitor estate agents.

The Edinburgh and Lothians Property Group (ELPG) believes that, although house prices are rising and mortgage lending is on the up in Scotland, first-time buyers are still being hindered.