Buyers have been holding off from property purchases in the run-up to tomorrow’s General Election, but that hasn’t stopped vendors listing their homes for sale, figures suggest.

Data from haart’s National Housing Market Monitor shows its branches reported new buyer demand was down 10.1% between March and April and fell 34.6% annually.

The number of first-time buyers entering the market has fallen by 10.1% on the month and by 34.6% on the year, haart reported.

The number of exchanges was down 29% year on year, but haart claims the market is more efficient as the number of viewings has dropped at a slower rate, declining 19.9% annually, meaning buyers are choosing to look at fewer properties before they buy.

Meanwhile, the report showed house prices across England and Wales in April fell by 0.2% on the month, and are down 3.2% on the year to £223,224, while first-time buyers paid on average 7.7% more at £182,035.

Buyers in London saw prices fall 1.7% on a monthly basis and 0.5% annually to £563,171.

Paul Smith, chief executive of haart, said the next Government should boost the market with a Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers and incentives for older families looking to move up the ladder or downsize.

He said: “These policies would increase fluidity in the market, and free up more properties – ensuring that more people have an opportunity to put roots down in a community and to have somewhere they can truly call home.

“Clearly there will be an impact on tax take – but new home-owners spend lavishly on white goods, carpets and other services which all carry 20% VAT.”

But while buyer demand may be slowing ahead of the election, that hasn’t been deterring sellers.

Data from HouseSimple, based on more than 500,000 listings on Home.co.uk, showed property supply across the UK was up 7% in May, after dropping 4% in April. Almost 80% of towns and cities saw an increase in new property listings in May compared to April.

The biggest increase was in Barnsley where monthly listings were up 74.6% in May, while Oldham had the biggest drop at 43.7%

Overall, new property listings were up 5.2% in the capital last month.

Vendor confidence has also been seen in the auction world, where buyers in more of a hurry seem to be rebuffing General Election concerns.

Auction House has reported selling 23% more lots in May on a yearly basis.

The property auctioneer sold 274 lots in the month, compared to 223 in May 2016.

Roger Lake, director of Auction House, said: “Even if people made their decision to put properties into our May sales prior to the election announcement, our entries for June look likely to be nearly 100 lots ahead of last year – and these were all placed with us when the election campaign was already under way. This indicates that there’s no shortage of sellers around the country, and purchasers are still hungry to buy.

“The truth is that many sellers are in a hurry, so they choose the auction route to market in order to get the results they want in the timescale they require. Meanwhile, buyers are still active in most areas with property still seen as an effective hedge against inflation – which means we are continuing to see a number of properties being sold to investors.

“Auctions provide essential speed and certainty for our customers. We’ve noticed a strengthening of volumes in the northern half of the country, but things are buoyant in the south of England too. Our auctions in Scotland and Wales are showing good numbers.”