The latest BriefYourMarket.com Property Index (analysing the combined on-market activity from Rightmove and Zoopla) has been published.

New properties coming to market last week saw a comparative decrease on the previous week, with 2,230 fewer properties being registered.

Properties changing status to SSTC saw a comparative increase on the previous week, with 42,223 additional properties being updated as SSTC.

Withdrawals saw a comparative increase on the previous week, with 19,992 additional properties being withdrawn.

Fall-throughs saw a comparative increase on the previous week, with 2,618 additional properties changing status from SSTC back to for sale.

The top ten most impacted postcode areas for fall throughs in this period were: BN3, CR0, E17, SL6, BH25, PR7, WN7, BB3, CO15 and PE2.

Commenting on the period 17.10.2020 – 23.10.2020, BriefYourMarket.com’s chief commercial officer, Richard Combellack, said: “Yet another record-breaking week in the continuing saga that is the UK property market.

“Last week saw SSTC hit a new 2020 record with 93,365 properties being updated as Sold Subject to Contract, beating the previous record set in week 41 by 6.1%. This positive news is further supported by a continuing strong level of supply, as new instructions coming to market have now remained above 60,000 per week for the last 15 weeks.

“Inevitably, there has been a slight increase in the number of fall throughs. They reached their highest rate in 30 weeks last week. With higher levels of activity – coupled with new Covid-19 operation guidance at both national and localised levels, it is obvious that external factors, mortgage problems, lengthening chains, and conveyancing delays will begin to become more prevalent and have more of an impact.

“Withdrawals peaked last week too, reaching their highest figure in 22 weeks, hitting rates that we previously saw back in June. What are the main drivers for such a sudden spike in withdrawal rates? Predominantly, we certainly must allow for most of the withdrawals to be a direct result of recent lockdown and firebreak restrictions. Confidence in selling and buying – especially in some parts of the UK – will have taken a huge hit as new measures are introduced.

“Withdrawal rates have been sat – on average – around the 14,000-mark week-on-week, dropping to its lowest rate only a week ago. A significant 113.6% comparative rise would also suggest that, for some sellers, property performance is likely to be playing a significant role too.

“Recent Rightmove reports suggested that it is now taking, on average, just 50 days to sell: just over seven weeks. Could the increase reflect the sentiment of some of the 256,663 instructions that came on the market back in July? A lot of these sellers will be reaching key milestones now, hitting 16 weeks+ on market in some cases.

“So, alongside the majority of ‘genuine’ withdrawals (i.e. those taken off the market because of uncontrollable buying and selling conditions due to Covid-19), we must also allow a margin for frustrated sellers that aren’t seeing the results that may have been originally promised.”

SSTC: (Total = 93,365) +58.4% increase when compared to the previous week, with 42,223 additional properties being updated as SSTC. Busiest day in this period was Saturday 17th October when 38,196 properties were updated as SSTC.

Withdrawn: (Total = 23,442) +113.6% increase when compared to the previous week, with 16,992 additional properties being withdrawn. Busiest day in this period was Saturday 17th October when 12,782 properties were withdrawn.

Fallen through: (Total = 8,910) +34.4% increase when compared to the previous week, with 2,618 properties falling through. Busiest day in this period was Thursday 22nd October when 2,829 properties fell through.

Count on market: (Total = 62,061) -3.5% decrease when compared to the previous week, with 2,230 fewer properties being listed. Busiest day in this period was Saturday 17th October when 16,513 properties were registered.