Transactions tumble almost 7% in a year despite post Brexit vote rise

Housing transactions and price inflation are both at levels close to those of 2013, Your Move has said.

The agent’s August house price index forecasts that the number of housing transactions in August 2016 in England and Wales will total 78,000, up 2.6% on July 2016, but 6.8% lower year-on-year.

This is attributed to the Stamp Duty rush in March.

Overall sales volumes in England and Wales for the first eight months of 2016 currently total 574,442, which is 0.5% lower than the first eight months of 2015, according to the index.

But rather than being a cause for concern, Your Move points out that transactions in the past three months have been similar to those in 2013.

Overall, the index recorded house prices at £292,921, up 0.1% on July and 4.3% annually.

The annual rate of growth is also down from 5.3% in July and the lowest since August 2013 when prices rose by 3.9%.

Prices in London are still seeing big falls with Camden, City of London and Kensington all down 11.1%, 8.1% and 6.2% respectively, but there are other boroughs doing much better.

For example Lewisham and Barking & Dagenham have seen growth of 18.7% and 18% respectively to £468,463 and £291,001.

The index has the average London house price at £584,363.

Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, said: “The new market data shows us once again that there is no single housing market but the sentiment, we believe, remains singularly positive – there is demand for affordable property and there are people who, bearing in mind the transaction volumes recorded, have the appetite to make a move.

“To maintain this momentum, however, it will be necessary for the Government to provide continued support to consumers, house builders and the property industry as a whole and ultimately ensure that there are enough houses – and finance available – to help people realise their dreams of home ownership.

“Whether this will come in the Autumn Statement is yet to be seen but no doubt many will hope it is yet again strongly positioned on the political agenda.”

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One Comment

  1. Tom@ExpertAgent

    As a comparison, on average our customers transactions are up 20% in 2016 from 2013 and new instructions are 30% higher.

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