The UK housing market is heading for an "inevitable slowdown", according to a new survey.

We're not predicting something sudden or dramatic, but an inevitable correction

Geoff Greer, Yorkshire bank

A steady stream of new entrants into the marketplace - first-time buyers - who usually bolster the market from the bottom-up, were beginning to fall away, it said.

Yorkshire Bank's housing survey found that a quarter of first-time buyers, who said they wished they had bought a year ago, said they were now unlikely to be able to afford to buy in the near future.

One in three said they were now planning to put buying their first home on hold until prices cooled down.

Gulf opening up

It is not just first-time buyers who are feeling the effects of high prices.

Almost one in ten think they have missed the boat, and will have to wait until the market cools to move up.

	:	UK property market
The house price boom

Geoff Greer, chief operating officer at Yorkshire, said: "We're not predicting something sudden or dramatic, but an inevitable correction.

"While current confidence in house prices emerges at an all time high, with 63% of people anticipating the value of their home to increase over the next 12 months, people should not rely on the current property boom continuing at the same rate."

Despite its predictions of a slowdown, homeowners were still optimistic, the survey said.

In fact, confidence in the property market had slightly increased among people who felt their properties would grow in value - up 2% on last quarter.

As many as 6% thought the price of their home would increase substantially during the next year, only 1% less than last quarter.

Competition for properties also remained fierce, according to the survey, with nearly one in five people prepared to offer more than the asking price - and one in 10 buyers making an offer on a property after just one viewing.

The practice of gazumping was also still prevalent around the UK, the survey said.

In Yorkshire and the North West it has increased over the past three months, with more than one in 10 purchasers willing to 'do the dirty' on fellow house hunters.