Reports of post-Brexit housing crisis ‘unfounded’ as market barely alters

There has been nothing more than a marginal weakening of the housing market since the Leave vote – and reports of a crisis are unfounded.

The claim comes from agents Jackson-Stops & Staff, which measured properties for sale nationally the day of the referendum, and again this week.

Separately, haart has criticised the “noise” surrounding Brexit.

Jackson-Stops & Staff took its figures from Rightmove and scaled them up 10% – reflecting that the portal has 90% of the market.

On June 22, there were 866,179 properties for sale nationally. Of these, 352,301 were under offer, representing 40.7% of the market.

The same analysis on August 8 showed the total number of properties on the market had risen 1.7% to 872,953.

Of these, the number of properties under offer was 335,176, representing 38.4% of the market, a 2.3% drop.

Average asking prices rose from £240,470 to £241,510 during the period.

Nick Leeming, chairman at Jackson-Stops & Staff, said: “Whilst the market has weakened slightly following the Brexit result, we usually see a slowdown in activity over the holiday months and these figures suggest we are yet to see a property crisis.

“Although agreed offers have marginally decreased, many thousands of buyers are still making offers to buy homes in the present economic environment.

“As a result, many sellers are feeling confident, demonstrated by the fact that asking prices themselves have not fallen – and have in fact seen a moderate increase.”

He said that sellers could have dropped their asking prices in order to get an agreed offer, but went on: “There is no evidence of a sharp house price decline nationally. Indeed, sellers accepting an offer 3% to 5% below asking price is normal in a healthy housing market.

“Despite the scaremongering being issued by a number of gloomy commentators, these figures show that the housing market continues to remain remarkably resilient.

“There is life after Brexit. The housing market is driven by need and these needs continue to motivate thousands of buyers.”

Separately, estate agent haart said that its own data shows that exchanges were up 6.5% in July compared with June, although down 18.2% from July last year.

Average prices at the SSTC stage were down 0.9%, although for first-time buyers up 0.9%. In London it was a different story with house prices at SSTC stage down 5.6%.

Paul Smith, CEO, said: “It seems buyers aren’t being deterred by the noise. We’ve actually seen a bounce in transactions in July, with a lot of buyers pressing ahead with their purchase now that the referendum is over.

“Prices have dropped slightly by 0.9% across the UK, and have fallen 5.6% in London, showing that sellers are cutting deals to bypass the uncertainty in the wider economy, and plucky buyers are taking advantage.

“Nevertheless, prices in London and across the UK both remain significantly higher than they were at the same time last year.

“Whilst there is still some uncertainty in the property market and the wider economy, the announcement of a cut in interest rates will see the country’s cheapest ever mortgage rates falling even further, and it won’t be long before the market bounces back.

“The desire for people to own their own home or move up the ladder is as strong as ever, and we have every reason to be confident about the property market’s long-term prospects.

“The only thing we have to fear post-Brexit is fear itself.”

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One Comment

  1. surreyagent

    The market was due a minor correction which Brexit has helped along but far better we have that now than the market keep driving full steam ahead and we have a bigger harder faster correction in 18 months. the biggest concern is top end as we cant see light at end of tunnel…… steady as you go for the rest of the market….!

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