A flood of first-time buyers onto the market is helping house sales in Hackney buck national trends, say estate agents.

While sales nationally have hit their lowest levels for more than 30 years, Hackney estate agents are reporting an unprecedented surge in custom over the last eight weeks.

Richard Scotford, sales director at Next Move in Stoke Newington Church Street, said: “We’ve had more sales in the last eight weeks than in the whole of the previous eight months. I’m gobsmacked.”

Mr Scotford said the trend was being driven by first time buyers. “On Saturday, we had 18 sets of first-time buyers walk in and register,” he said. “That’s a phenomenally high level. People perceive that prices have dropped, and understand that money has never been cheaper to borrow.”

Properties across London lost almost 0.9 per cent of their value in February this year, dropping by an average of £2,500. But in Hackney, the fall was just £700, or 0.3 per cent.

Sam Brown, 24, and fiancée Fiona Ryan, 23, finally bought a two-bedroom flat in Boundary Street, Hoxton, through Foxtons last month after saving for nearly two years.

Mr Brown, who works in television. said getting a mortgage on the £200,000 property “wasn’t easy”, but was confident that the couple had chosen to enter the housing market at the right moment. “There’s quite a bit of uncertainty around,” he said, “but I love the flat, and I think we’ve got a good deal for the area.”

Debby Blow, office manager at estate agents Keatons in Mare Street, said: “We have been full of first-time buyers reregistering, and as they start to complete their sales we are also seeing more people further up the chain being able to move.

“Homerton and Clapton are popular with first-time buyers because they’re the cheapest parts of the borough. Two-bedroom flats in Homerton that were £230,000 this time last year are now going for around £195,000, and buyers have the kind of choice they won’t have in six months when the market has stabilised.”

Lesley Rood, sales agent at Bunch and Duke in Mare Street, said: “Our sales have increased quite a bit since the beginning of February. Most are first time- buyers, but the level of interest has increased all round.

“Some people have been looking for a while, but there is a real feeling now that prices are as low as they’re going to go and the time is right.”

According to the Land Registry, house prices in England and Wales fell by 15.1 per cent in 2008. In Hackney, the average asking price for a property dropped by 11 per cent over the same period.