UK house prices and transactions beat forecasts to rise again

This week’s UK property market weekly report for the week ending Sunday, 11th February 2024, presents a continued robust picture of the UK Property Market.

Headlines:
 
· House Prices on Sale Agreed homes rise in Week 6 to £339/sq.ft (Jan ’24 to £331.35/sq.ft)
· Listings for last week (Week 6) are 17% higher than 2024 YTD average
· Gross sales for last week 20.3% higher the weekly YTD 2024 average (and 19.76% higher than the 2023 weekly average)
· Last week’s net sales – 31.4% higher then theof 2023 weekly average
· Sale fall-throughs continue to be at record lows at 1 in 5 sales (4 in 10 in Q4 2022).

Chris Watkin, with this week’s special guest, Verona Frankish, CEO of YOPA, chat at length about the current state of the UK property market.

Chris’s In-Depth Analysis (Week 6) :

+ New Properties to Market: The UK saw 35,578 new listings (the 8-year average for Week 6 is 33,124). This year’s YTD listings stand at 187,370, surpassing the historical 8 year YTD average of 171,729. Graph & Chart 1

+ Average Listing Price: A key figure of £422,081.

+ Listing vs Sale Agreed Prices: The difference stands at 20.2%. The ideal figure is in the mid-teens. This shows the upper end priced properties aren’t selling as well Graph & Chart 2

+ Price Reductions: Last week, 18,810 properties saw price reductions, a significant number compared to the 8-year average of 13,859. This means 1 in 8 properties each month. Is that enough? I don’t believe so.

+ Average Asking Price for Reduced Properties: At £390,705 , this shows me the lower to mid price properties are being reduced.

+ Gross Sales: Impressively, 24,954  properties were sold stc last week. Average for 17/18/19 is 22,780 for Week 6 Graph & Chart 4

Accumulative Gross Sales YTD: The total stands at 124,426, exceeding the average of 115,274 from 17/18/19. Graph & Chart 5

+ Average Asking Price of Sold STC Properties: Holding steady at £350,202, mirroring the latter half of 2023.

+ Sale Fall Throughs: Counted at 5,034, this is encouragingly lower than the 2023 average of 5,382 weekly fall-throughs.

+ Sale Fall Through Rae: Dropped again to 20.17%, levels not seen since the Spring of 2022. As you can see from the graph, this is a downward trend that started Spring 2023

Net Sales at 19,920 for the week, above the 17/18/19 average of 18,173 for Week 6 Graph & Chart 8

Accumulative Net Sales YTD: The total stands at 95,193, exceeding the average of 91,748 from 17/18/19.

Local Focus this week is on Salisbury
As we are half way through the second month 2024, the property market continues to show promising signs of strength and resilience. Yet it’s vital, however, to approach each week with a strategic mindset.
My message to all estate agents – Your goal remains 100% laser clear: Engage in proactive prospecting for new properties to sell, ensure accurate valuations (don’t forget only got paid on 52.8% of the homes you tried to sell in 2023 (paid = exchanged and completed), and focus great sales progression to get the sale through to exchange.
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2 Comments

  1. Robert_May

    Some agents only exchange contracts on less that 20% of everything they list, others exchange contracts on over 805 they they’re instructed on without a change of agent or any price juggling shenanigans, so telling agents they only get paid 52.8% of what they list misses the point that some agents are considerably better than others.

    Its a real shame Eye doesn’t have the active community contributors and discussion it used to benefit from; I’m fairly sure these statos would not have gone unchallenged for as long as they have

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    1. Chris Watkin

      Robert – I agree with you that some agents exchange on 80% of what they list and others 20% … the 52.8% is an UK average of 15k estate agency forms … and that is the very nature of an average. If you watch the Stats Show each week, I always focus on a town or city and drill down and look at individual agents and their stats.

      Also, I relish the chance to be challenged on these stats – so please do ask away.

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