"We are inching towards a degree of consumer confidence now and the longer that stays then the busier we will all become."
He said first-time buyers were currently sitting on their hands but he said "the perfect time to move house does not exist".
Hall said: "There was an interest rate rise in 1957 that saw a rapid base rate rise to 7.5 per cent and the story from that is that if you decided to wait 18 months hoping for that rate to drop you'd have ended up waiting 51 years because that rate didn't get back down until 2008.
"So you'd have had 51 years more renting if you were a first-time buyer and in that 51 years house prices went up 9,351 per cent so the moral is that if you can afford to buy at the point you need to buy, then buy and don't worry about it."
damian.fantato@ft.com
