The LSL Property Services / Acadametrics June House Price Index Housing showed that market transactions rose from 52,975 in May to an estimated 63,500 in June.
While still down on the long-term national average, this increase in sold properties sharply reverses the drop in transactions last month.
House prices continued to fall in June, down 0.5% on May levels, as sellers come to terms with buyers’ demands for bigger price discounts.
The good news is that the oversupply in the market, prevalent last month, is now reducing, according to Acadametrics.
Annual prices are 7.7% above a year ago, down from a 9.1% annual rise last month.
Commenting, David Brown, commercial director of LSL Property Services, said: “June’s transaction figures are the highest this year and suggest last month’s stalemate between sellers and buyers failing to agree terms is on the wane.
“We can’t discount further house prices falls over the next few months, as the market continues to stabilise and normalise.
“However the demographic age profile of the UK suggests there is an army of over one million would-be first-time buyers delaying purchases, who are ready to enter the market when conditions allow.
“This suggests the current drop in house prices may well be short lived.
“The key to recovery is more attractive first-time buyer mortgage deals offered by lenders.”
Dr Peter Williams, housing market specialist and chairman of Acadametrics, said: “The number of properties sold in June, as a percentage of the long term average sales per month, is the highest so far in 2010.
“There are a number of possibilities as to why June sales have increased over the previous months in 2010:
i) we are witnessing a gradual recovery in the housing market;
ii) May transactions were abnormally low and hence there has been a once-off bounce back in transactions in June; or
iii) a number of buy-to-let landlords sold their properties in June to avoid paying a much anticipated increase in Capital Gains Tax, which came into effect via the Emergency Budget on 22nd June (and subsequently the rate increase announced was lower than anticipated and may have encouraged some transactions to go ahead).
“At this stage, we simply don’t know what caused the increase and we need more data to emerge from the Land Registry before we can state with more certainty the reasons for the increase in sales.”
