Transactions have fallen by 32% across London and by 18% across England and Wales in the first quarter of this year, compared with the first three months of last year.
The comparison highlights the artificial strength of the market last March, driven by the April 1 deadline to beat a 3% Stamp Duty surcharge on the purchase of second homes.
It also shows the ongoing effects of high Stamp Duty on the most expensive homes.
Property sales of homes over £2m are down by 25%, while just 7% of properties priced above £2m are under offer in central London.
It is also clear that London buyers are firmly resistant to properties they consider over-priced: under-offer properties in west London have average asking prices 30% lower than those without an offer. In east London the proportion is 20%.
The figures are from chain-breaking online agent Nested, based on data from Zoopla and the ONS/Land Registry.
Is this just related to a strong first quarter last year or is it more of an ongoing problem caused by the uncertainty of Brexit stalling some people from selling and moving?
In our neck of the woods, if you put the postcode in rightmove sold prices tab the number of sales for the last year is 339 whereas the number for the year before last was 474 ( worked out by taking the last one year figure off the last two year figure). That’s a whopping drop of 28.5 %. How many businesses would survive that kind of drop off over such a short period of time?
Wonder what results that exercise reveals for other people in other areas?
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So in plain english and not purplebrick style %.’s..Most estate agents are about 2 houses down on last year..what ‘is’ happening on the ground is that agents are having their busiest 1/4 for years on pipeline…
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Whereabouts do you operate Bless You? Agents I’m speaking to in the South London/North Surrey area seem to be suggesting a decline rather than increase in transaction levels. Having seen a 40% increase on prices post 2008 and recent changes in stamp duty the market seems to have hit the buffers a bit here. I suspect cheaper areas further afield not reached that point so business still good?
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Could it be that as some agents charged the buyer the fees a year or so ago that many now have lower equity and in a local environment that word gets around. Moreover surrey 1 you are mid market and much of the activity is at the lower end, just ask your mortgage advisors.
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