Latest research reveals a market grinding to a halt
Signs that the property market is slowing down are evident in a new study that found the average level of monthly transactions over the last six months falling by almost a quarter, compared to the previous six months, with the decline in some areas reaching as high as 43%.
The latest research by property purchasing specialist House Buyer Bureau has revealed that in the last six months, an average of 61,651 homes have been sold across the UK on a monthly basis, 23.8% fewer than the 80,958 sold per month in the previous half year.
It appears that the market is running out of steam across the board, House Buyer Bureau noted, with every area of the UK market seeing a decline in average monthly sales volumes at a regional level.
The North East has seen the largest decline, with a 32.5% drop in transaction levels, while the North West has also seen a notable decline, down 28.3%, followed by Wales (-27.7%), the East Midlands (-27.1%), and Yorkshire and the Humber (-27.1%).
While all other regions have seen a decline of at least 20%, the London market has seen the average number of monthly transactions fall by just 8.4% in the last six months.
At the local authority level, the market is grinding to a halt to the greatest extent in the Forest of Dean, where just 71 homes were sold per month over the last six months, down 43.1% versus the previous six months when 125 sales were completed on average each month.
Read more: Is the UK in a recession? How will it affect housing market.
“We’ve suspected for quite some time that the market was beginning to lose momentum following such a sustained period of heightened market activity,” Chris Hodgkinson, managing director at House Buyer Bureau, commented. “While there has yet to be any notable decline in topline house prices, we’ve seen previous signs that mortgage approvals were stuttering and we’re now starting to see this translate to a drop in transaction levels.
“This decline is only going to intensify moving forward, as the increased cost of securing a mortgage continues to climb to some of the highest levels seen in years. With more buyers being deterred from entering the market, sellers will start to find that they simply can’t expect to secure the same price as they would have during the dizzying heights of the pandemic market boom.
As this pendulum shifts, there’s no doubt that house prices will start to fall and it’s only a matter of time before this decline surfaces.”
