New listings outpace sales amid higher borrowing costs
More listings are now chasing fewer committed buyers amid higher borrowing costs, says Sprift’s Matt Gilpin.
The gap between new listings and agreed sales has hit its highest level this year, research suggests.
Analysis by property data brand Sprift found new listings outnumbered agreed sales by 123,856 in September, the widest gap in a year
New listings reached 213,048, up 14.8% on August, while agreed sales fell 16.1% to 89,192, according to the research.
The resulting conversion rate between new listings and sales of 41.9% was down 15.4 percentage points in a single month.
Conversion had held between 50.2% and 58.5% in every month from January to August, making September a clear break rather than a seasonal dip.
Sellers came back after the summer, but many buyers paused as borrowing costs climbed.”
The sales slowdown has been attributed to higher mortgage costs.
However, there are regional differences.
Scotland converted 69.5% of new listings into agreed sales while London managed 27.0%, a gap of 42.5 points. Six regions finished above the national figure, all of them in the North, the Midlands, Wales or Scotland, and every southern region finished below it.
London’s new listings rose 28.7% while its agreed sales fell 14.8%, leaving 20,868 homes unsold from a single month of supply.
The South East built the largest backlog in Britain at 23,253.
Size mattered as much as location. Listings of five bedroom and larger detached homes rose 36.3% in a month while their conversion rate fell from 51.7% to 31.9%. Two-bedroom bungalows converted at 61.4%, the strongest of any property type and size combination.
Vendor response
Vendors appear to be responding faster than they did in August. The wait before a price change shortened in ten of 11 regions, falling from 81 days to 75 in London and to 51 days in Scotland.
The price reduction rate rose to 33.3% from 27.2%, and 39.3% of all stock for sale carried a reduction by the end of September.
Matt Gilpin, Chief Executive of Sprift, says: “September showed how quickly confidence can turn.
“Sellers came back after the summer, but many buyers paused as borrowing costs climbed. More homes chasing fewer committed buyers puts the onus on pricing. The agents who bring that evidence into the valuation will win the instructions that go on to sell.”
