Housing market in 'cooling phase'
There was a 26 per cent reduction in new properties coming to the market in November compared to the month before, a report from Propertymark has revealed.
The report, Housing Insight Report November 2023, found there were, on average, six new homes placed for sale per member branch in November.
This is a continuation of the trend present since August 2023 and, despite seasonal trends, shows that “the market is clearly in a cooling phase”.
Propertymark CEO, Nathan Emerson, echoed this: “In the residential sales sector, seasonal trends are undoubtedly weighing on market performance. However, there are also strong indications that the market is cooling in general.”
Additionally, the average stock of properties available for sale per member branch was found to have decreased, with a 14 per cent drop between October and November.
Propertymark added that it anticipated a further seasonal fall in December.
Demand
Additionally, the research acknowledged that market conditions remained “challenging” with the average number of new prospective buyers registered per branch continuing to decline.
The number of registrations reduced from 53 in October to 49 in November.
While this was exacerbated by seasonal factors, a downward trend has “been evident for some time”.
Emerson added: “Demand, as measured by new buyer registrations, is trending downwards and though offset by a reduction in existing stock levels and new supply, price pressures are increasing.
“This is evidenced by the majority of members reporting that properties continue to sell for less than asking price.”
Sales
It was also revealed that the number of sales agreed per branch decreased again in November to below six sales.
Propertymark stated that, while seasonal explain this trend to a degree, the year-to-date performance in 2023 is still lower than in either of the preceding two years.
While sales decreased, asking prices remained higher than market expectations despite a slight contraction in the number of agents reporting their policies selling for less than asking price.
There was also a moderate increase in those reporting that properties are selling at asking price.
Source : FT ADVISER – Date: 5th January 2024 – By: Tom Dunstan
