MORTGAGES are harder to get hold of, house prices are falling while repossessions and the deposits required to secure a home are growing – but it isn't bad news for everyone.

If you're looking to get your foot on the first rung of the ladder the downturn in the market needn't spell disaster, even if navigating your way through these uncertain times does prove tricky. In fact, experts say now is a great time to buy.

Andrew Elson, independent financial advisor at Leeds-based Bates Investment Services said: "Now couldn't be a better time to buy for first time buyers. There are some real bargains to be had out there because people who do want to sell are worried about a downturn in prices so they'll be prepared to drop their prices from the start for fear they'll drop even further.

"And they're willing to do this because over the last ten years or so their properties will probably have gained so much equity anyway that they can afford to do that.

"My only warning is that if you're going to get a bargain get it now because if prices do continue to drop then what you'll see is people refusing to sell at all for fear they'll have to take a ridiculously low offer.

"You could go from an extreme of there being lots of highly priced properties to just a handful of low priced properties available, neither of which is particularly good.

"But now is the perfect time because there is still a reasonable amount of homes out there, it's just that the owners are more willing to negotiate and consider different offers."

That was echoed by Paul Lehar, director of Castlehill Estate Agents based in Headingley. "There have been price drops across the board in our experience and it's all happened relatively quickly" he said.

"For example a typical back-to-back terrace in this part of Leeds which 18 months ago might have sold for around £130-140,000 has more recently been achieving something closer to £110-125,000.

"The trouble is we are already starting to see a drying up in the number of people willing to sell their properties while, at the same time, we've seen first time buyers find properties that they're interested in then, when they try and arrange a mortgage, find they can't – and that's something we've increasingly seen just in the last three months or so."

There's no underestimating the scale of the challenge facing first time buyers trying to get finance. Independent analysts www.mortgagemonitor.co.uk conducted research recently which revealed that by May of this year the number of mortgage products available had fallen to 16,000 – a huge drop from the 68,000 which were available at the same time last year.

Mortgage monitor's managing director Andy Fallon said: "The 100 per cent mortgage deals have obviously disappeared and that was as recently as March, lenders are genuinely fearful of a downturn and the spectre of negative equity.

"And with that in mind they're tightening the criteria so much regarding who they'll lend to. Now you have to be whiter than white and find at least a ten per cent deposit to be in with a chance.

"But that doesn't mean that if you're a first time buyer you're out of luck because if you can get a mortgage then it also means you get yourself a real bargain over the next 12 months to two years, so it isn't all bad."