New sellers are taking note of the housing market's "more normal" activity levels
The average price of property coming to market rose by just 0.2% to £366,247 this month, according to property listing platform Rightmove.
This latest growth of around £890 to new seller asking prices, Rightmove said, was notably lower than the average increase of 1.2% for this time of year – a sign that many new sellers are taking note of the economic headwinds and the transitioning of the housing market to a slower pace and more normal activity levels.
The number of sales agreed is now on par with the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, with agreed sales volumes now just 1% behind March 2019’s figures.
Rightmove’s House Price Index also showed a growing first-time buyer sector of two-bedroom and fewer properties, with sales volumes now 4% higher than in March 2019. First-time-buyer type properties have also reached a new record price of £224,963 this month.
However, Rightmove noted that more competition among lenders in the smaller deposit, higher loan-to-value ranges could be positive news for would-be first-time buyers.
“Agents are reporting that many sellers have transitioned out of the frenzied multi-bid market mindset of recent years and understand the new need to tempt Spring buyers with a competitive price,” Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said.
“The current unexpectedly stable conditions may tempt more sellers to enter the market who had been considering a move in the last few years but had been put off by its frenetic pace. Buyers may have struggled to find a home that suited their needs in the stock-constrained market of recent years and will now find more choice available.”
Ben Rose, director at Ben Rose Estate Agents, added that locally, it has been observed that the number of new instructions and sales agreed is the highest it has been for several months.
“While this is not the very high level they were during the pandemic years, they are high compared to before the pandemic,” Rose said. “This upturn also suggests the economy is far stronger than expected, and this is reflected in the buyer’s confidence in the market.
“We’re hoping these increased numbers will now become the new norm, which appears to be the case given the consistency of them this year.”
“Encouragingly, lenders seem increasingly confident that the market will not suffer a serious correction as we are hearing there are far more high loan-to-value mortgages available, suggesting that they don’t foresee a market collapse,” Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, commented.
“Activity is slowly improving as we get more into the Spring market but buyer caution about the cost-of-living means they are taking their time before taking the plunge. Therefore, sales are taking longer, and sales agreed numbers are close to where they were just before the pandemic hit.”
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