House sales forecast to top 1m this year for first time since 2007 First-time buyers up 40% on housing market's 2009 low But sales still well below their pre-recession peak of 1.6m a year Some sellers resorting to sealed bids due to soaring demand The number of UK house sales is forecast to top one million for the first time since 2007 this year, as first-time buyers return to the housing market in droves. The Council of Mortgage Lenders said the number of homes sold to new buyers this year was on target to hit 270,000, some 40 per cent above the trough hit in 2009 when house prices and mortgage lending collapsed in the wake of the financial crisis. It added that first-time buyer transactions had been "among the first to show signs of recovery" earlier this year. Record low: Despite the improvement in house sales they remain close to the lowest on record The number of buy-to-let transactions was also forecast to have increased by 80 per cent by the end of the year compared with levels seen four years ago, with the total expected to reach 160,000 sales this year. The CML said the prospect of decent rental returns amid strong levels of demand from tenants was attracting more landlords into the sector. It also forecast transactions involving cash buyers to hit around 370,000 this year, marking a 25 per cent increase on four years ago. Adding credence to reports of a newly cut-throat housing market, the National Association of Estate Agents today warned that increasing numbers of homeowners were resorting to sealed bids due to soaring demand. It said homeowners were turning to sealed bids - in which potential buyers make their offer to a homeowner detailing their ability to move, mortgage finance and how much they are wiling to pay for the property - in increasing numbers as a way of extracting the most value from the sale of their property and in order to weed out serious and able buyers from time wasters. One million: House price sales were forecast to top 1million for the first time since 2007 this year However, the CML said the number of property sales involving home movers had so far shown only "negligible signs of recovery" adding there were indications that former first-time buyers were struggling to take their second step on the property ladder. Many would-be "second steppers" will have bought their first property at the height of the boom and some will have sunk into negative equity as the financial downturn took hold. The CML, which represents 95 per cent of all UK mortgage lenders, suggested that some were still having difficulty "bridging the gap" and raising the funds needed to buy their next home. It also cautioned that despite the recovery, first-time buyer numbers were still "languishing" at only around half their long-term average of around half a million. What does the future hold for UK house prices? This map from Savills shows their predicted trends over the next five years. View the full version here. Jan Hÿtch, president of the NAEA, said: "Sealed bids are often used when interest in a property is high, and it is likely that more than one party could and would wish to purchase. The confidential nature of the process can also mean that homes can go for more than the seller anticipated. However, for first time buyers or those that are unfamiliar with the sealed bids process, the whole situation may be daunting because of its semi-secretive nature She added many buyers were put off the process of making a sealed bid because they assumed the highest big would automatically win but that this wasn't always the case. 'The process involves assessing all the information available to find the buyer that has demonstrated the strongest and most reassuring ability to proceed and complete a sale without any trouble,' Ms Hÿtch added. In order to have the best chance of succeeding in this situation, buyers will need to be well prepared in advance with their finances and paperwork all in order. The number of house sales involving homeowners with a mortgage has risen by just 3 per cent since 2009, the CML said, with around 325,000 mortgages expected to be taken out by this sector this year. Some 1.6million UK property sales were recorded by HM Revenue and customs in 2007, a figure which plummeted to 900,000 in 2008. The number of annual housing market transactions remained at levels between 850,000 to 950,000 for each of the next four years. While house prices recently surged to an all-time high, according to official figures, the market is still patchy. Buyers return: The CML said the number of first time buyers in the market was 40 per cent higher than four years ago. The number of buy to let investors was 80 per cent higher than in 2009 House prices in London have risen 9 per cent on a year ago, according to the Office of National Statistics, but while prices in England have reached slightly above their 2008 peak, those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland remain below their previous highs. The CML reported yesterday that October was its busiest month in five years amid signs that the Government's new Help to Buy scheme is spurring competition among lenders to attract borrowers with 5 per cent deposits and in its regular "news and views" release today it said it expects market momentum to continue into the new year, with a further uplift in sales in 2014. But it added that a "chronic shortage" of homes for people to choose from was likely to "bear down in transaction numbers for the foreseeable future." It will give a more detailed prediction for next year's housing market when it publishes forecasts next month. The new phase of Help to Buy, which offers state-backed mortgages to people with deposits as low as 5 per cent, was launched last month. The scheme is open to both first-time buyers and home movers. So far, only a handful of deals are on offer under the initiative but lenders representing two-thirds of the mortgage market have pledged they will take part and more products will be unveiled in the coming months. There are also signs that the scheme is prompting increased competition among lenders outside the initiative. Yesterday, Yorkshire Building Society Group, which is not part of Help to Buy, launched 36 new 5 per cent deposit deals onto the market.