December sales activity bucks seasonal trends

December sales activity bucks seasonal trends

During the final month of 2016, sales for both first time and home buyers went against the usual seasonal trends according to NAEA research.

Key points from the Housing Market report include:

  • During December, the number of prospective buyers registered per branch was the highest in 13 years
  • Sales to first to first-time buyers during December were the highest since 2001
  • The number of houses available to buy marginally increased
  • The number of agreed sales dropped by a quarter since November, despite the increased potential buyer interest

Property Demand

The number of people looking to buy a home in December rose to the highest level observed since 2003. In terms of prospective buyers registered at branches, the average number was 386 last month. Since November, when estate agents registered 344 on average, this is an increase of 12%. December figures since 2003 are in the table below:

[table id=22 /]

First time buyer sales

Just under a third (32%) of sales were made to first time buyers during December. This is the highest figure for this month since 2001, when the proportion was also 32%. This is a 10% increase since November, when 29% of sales were made to this kind of buyer. December figures for the proportion of sales to first time buyers, since 2001, are in the table below:

[table id=23 /]

Property sales and sales agreed

During December, the number of available properties on estate agents’ books was 41. In November, there were 39, so this number has only marginally increased. The number of agreed sales dropped by a quarter last month – despite the increase in supply and demand – from eight to six.

Commenting on the December figures was Mark Hayward. The Managing Director from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) highlighted that despite the positive statistics, the issue of supply remains.

“In November we saw a seasonal slowdown; typically it’s uncommon for people to buy and move close to Christmas. Yet, our December findings have completely bucked this seasonal trend. With demand at an all-time December high and sales to FTBs at their highest on record, 2016 closed on a positive note following several months of uncertainty. However, despite an encouraging December, there remains a clear shortage of homes. We await the government’s housing white paper to see how it intends to tackle this and hope the market continues to improve for both buyers and sellers.”

 

Georgia Owen

Georgia is the Content Executive and will be your primary contact when submitting your latest news. While studying for an LLB at the University of Liverpool, Georgia gained experience working within retail, as well as social media management. She later went on to work for a local newspaper, before starting at Today’s Conveyancer.

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