Nearly one in three renters hope to buy their first property this year, a new poll suggests.

They have been largely inspired by the launch of the Government's Help to Buy home-purchasing incentive scheme, the study by Rightmove showed.

The property website found that 32% of renters plan to buy this year, a 6% rise compared to 2012.

Almost one in four of these claimed they were seeking to get on the property ladder because of the start of the Help to Buy scheme.

This was especially applied to the second phase, which stimulates mortgage lending to potential buyers with small deposits.

The survey of over 17,000 people showed that renters in London and the South East were keenest to purchase.

Matthew Rothery, of Strutt & Parker's Sevenoaks office, comments that he has seen a marked change in attitude to renting in the past year. Buyers coming out from London used to be much more tentative about committing to buy and were happy to rent to get to know an area before buying. With confidence having returned to the market, those same buyers, having done their sums and watching the market surging forward, are keen not to be left behind and so are much more focussed on buying rather than renting.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said: “More renters look set to buy in 2014 but saving a deposit still requires time and commitment, meaning that overall tenant demand is unlikely to change much.”

The Guardian reported on Thursday (January 2) that the Prime Minister had welcomed a doubling in the take-up of Help to Buy mortgage loans as a much-needed boost for homebuyers.

David Cameron said the Treasury-backed mortgage guarantee scheme attracted 4,000 applicants in December compared with 2,000 in November.

Nearly 750 homes have been purchased through the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee initiative, Downing Street said.

The nationwide scheme, which started in October, allows prospective buyers to purchase property with a deposit as small as 5% of the total cost.

Experts expect the scheme to rapidly expand this year.

Barclays and Santander plan to sell Help to Buy-ready mortgages in January, joining Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.

For more information, contact your local Strutt & Parker office.