Get real! That’s the message to homeowners wanting to sell their properties in the current market, from the new leader of Bradford’s estate agents.

Karen Maxfield, who has become the first female president in the 90-year history of the Bradford & District Auctioneers and Estate Agent’s Association, believes too many sellers are still asking too much for their properties.

She also believes it will be around five years before the housing market returns to anything like normal. She said: “The last two years have been difficult but there are signs of improvement in the local market, and I’m optimistic that things will continue to improve, if slowly.

“If people ask a realistic price they will sell. We have found that new instructions are selling more quickly than properties that have been on sale for some months, probably due to pricing.”

Karen agreed with a new survey which showed that the number of first-time buyers remains at a 20-year low, mainly due to the size of deposit needed to get a mortgage.

Research group GfK warned that the need for high deposits would mean the Government’s recent move to offer stamp duty relief to all first-time buyers on properties up to £250,000 would not provide much support as they must often save tens of thousands of pounds before they can get a foot on the ladder.

This, coupled with rising house prices, has seen the average age of a first-time buyer rise to 32, compared to 31 in 1991.

GfK’s Financial Research Survey said 347,000 people took out a mortgage for the first time in the year to February 2010, slightly more than the 331,374 the year before and the peak of more than 700,000 in 2004-05.

GfK also found that an increasing proportion of first-time mortgages are being granted to over-50s who are buying up properties for their children or for themselves as retirement investments.

Karen, a director of Maxwells estate agents, which has offices in Baildon and Saltaire, said this situation applied to the local market, with many first-time buyers relying on parental help to get on the housing ladder.

Karen has been in the property business since the age of 17, and in 2004 was nominated for the young estate agent of the year award while working as a trainee at Whitegates.