While a slowdown in December is viewed as normal, Alex Gosling, chief executive of the estate agents, reckoned this could be a sign of things to come in early 2017.
New UK property listings nosedived by 46.9% in December from the previous month according to online estate agents HouseSimple.com
While a slowdown in December is viewed as normal, Alex Gosling, chief executive of the estate agents, reckoned this could be a sign of things to come in early 2017.
He said: “The run-up to Christmas is chaotic, so most people wait until January to put their house on the market – as a result, a slowdown in new listings is pretty typical.
“But the December just gone was particularly slow and the fear is that this steep drop-off could hail the start of a more tentative market as inflation starts to rise and people feel less confident financially.
“How the job market and economy perform will be critical for the property market in the months ahead.”
Property listings fell in 98% of towns and cities across the UK, with only Salford and Telford seeing them increase.
London saw an above average drop of 53.6% homes being listed.
To compile the index HouseSimple looked at data on more than 500,000 properties.
