As house prices rocket, first-time buyers must be wondering if they will ever be able to afford that crucial first step on the property ladder.

High demand, largely fuelled by low interest rates, and a shortage of properties has ensured rapidly-escalating house prices across Britain.

For existing home owners, it is a joy to behold, with the value of houses rising on what can feel like a daily basis.

For first-time buyers struggling to find an affordable property, however, it has been a different story.

For many, the dream of escaping from paying rent and owning their own home has become ever more distant.

But hope may in sight.

Recent research shows house price inflation is finally starting to ease, giving beleaguered first-time purchasers a chance to catch up.

A survey by property research firm Hometrack found house price rises averaged 0.7 per cent in August, the lowest rate since January and well below May's high of 2.6 per cent.

That, in turn, backs up recent research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

It found the number of unsold homes rose for the first time since December in July and newly-agreed sales fell, meaning price inflation had slowed.

Residential property prices still rose in the three months to July but at the slowest pace for five months.

RICS spokesman Ray Barrowdale said this was good news for first-time buyers.

He said: "It gives them better opportunity to get on the housing ladder."

The quiet summer season had played a part in calming prices, although the increase in the number of homes coming on to the market had also contributed.

The buy-to-let market had become saturated.

Mr Barrowdale said experienced landlords were now looking at under-performing properties and selling them on.

He said: "The buy-to-let market is in competition with first-time buyers and has effectively taken houses away from them."

Potential home owners thinking of holding on until prices start to fall, or even until the market crashes, will be in for a long wait.

The last time the UK market collapsed was at the start of the Nineties.

People overstretched themselves in the Eighties, meaning the market crashed when interest rates rose.

But as Mr Barrowdale pointed out, a repeat performance was just no longer feasible.

He said: "The economic conditions just aren't the same as when we had everyone going into negative equity.

"Inflation is stable and the fear of unemployment is not an issue either."

RICS is still predicting a rise of 19 per cent in house price inflation this year, slowing seven per cent next year.

Hometrack is forecasting growth of 20 per cent this year and eight per cent next year.

Hometrack's John Wriglesworth said: "Continuing record low mortgage rates, rising incomes and a shortage of supply point to further price rises, albeit at a more modest rate.

"The boom continues and am confident that there will be no Nineties-style housing market recession."

Mr Wriglesworth said firsttime buyers should be "getting up to all the old tricks", such as teaming up with partners friends to find the money buy a house or moving away from the centre of town areas where properties were cheaper.

These might help them secure that elusive first home.