The property market faced an unseasonal decline during April, according to boards supplier Agency Express.
The number of For Sale and Sold signs going up suggested a slowdown in the UK property market last month with all regions showing a drop in boards on display.
National figures for properties Sold fell 15.1%, while new For Sale listings declined 11.5%, according to the index.
In April 2016, For Sale boards were up 8.2% and Sold signs were down only 1.5% in comparison.
London saw the biggest fall for Sold signs since December, down 22.4% during April 2017, while For Sale signs in Scotland had the steepest drop at 19.7% over the month.
Over a three-month rolling period Agency Express’s data shows more stability across the market, with new listings For Sale up 5.4% and properties Sold at 7%.
While all of the 12 regions showed declines, the smallest falls were in Wales where For Sale boards were down 4.6% while Sold boards in Scotland dropped just 7%.
Stephen Watson, managing director of Agency Express, said: “We have witnessed an unseasonal decline in figures, which may be as a result of the two bank holiday weekends and reduced number of working days.
“However, if we look at our rolling three-monthly figures we can see that all 12 regions reported increases in both For Sale and Sold properties, so essentially the market remains steady.
“Moving forwards we generally see a slower pace across the market in May and then a pick-up again in June, but as we head towards another General Election it will be interesting to see how the usual figures fare in comparison.”
Errr … we have an impending general election! Every time that happens the country comes to a standstill when it comes to moving house.
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Woodentop, indeed our Property Activity Index stats tend to reflect that too.
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I do recall a certain Mr Pryor commenting on a slow down and mortgage approvals are down by 16% and that figure is before the election was called. He was poo pooed
I do recall that I also agreed with HP and the reasoning was and still is that we are now pushing 35 year terms with maximum income multiples and lots of applications are being declined.
Inevitably that will be stall the market until salaries catch up or prices come down or a combination.
As I have said before and for the last 30 years, agents get in touch with your mortgage guys and read the market, they are not just a guy in the corner who you have to make referrals to. They are an intrinsic part of the process.
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