‘Reassuring resilience’ within housing market despite economic headwinds

New instructions are at their highest in four years and are now sitting at around 986,000, with ‘sales agreed’ at around 659,000, figures from TwentyEA reveal.

Figures provided by TwentyEA, part of the TwentyCi group, for July 2023 show new instructions have risen 4.5% since last year.

DEMAND DECREASED

While demand overall has decreased year on year, 2022 was a very different market and was one of the busiest on record.

Stock levels improved across all price brackets, particularly among properties at £350,000 and over.

In the bracket of £200,000 to £350,000 the number of available properties has increased more than 50% year on year.

However, shortages remain under £350,000 and are exacerbated by the lack of new homes under construction.

Compared with 2019’s more normal market, stock levels are down in most regions except for the East and West Midlands and Inner London which bucks the trend and has over 17% more properties available compared with 2019.

TIME TO SELL

Time to sell an average property is currently sitting at around 61 days which has increased compared with the previous year, however, it’s an 18% reduction on 2019’s level of 75 days.

Colin Bradshaw, TwentyCi’s CEO, says: “Buyer demand is reassuringly resilient despite the economic headwinds of interest rate rises and inflation, while keen sellers are proving determined and are pressing on with their moves.

“Although mortgage rates and the pace of inflation remain unsettled, the market is performing well, all things considered.

“Average asking prices are still rising and transaction prices are holding steady. These signals demonstrate resilience and reveal how speculation around the extent of the market’s decline may have been overstated.”