The current level of transactions has been described as “a little scary” by a leading housing analyst.
Kate Faulkner has stated that with the low levels of supply for both prospective buyers and tenants, house hunters are having difficulty in finding somewhere suitable.
She stated that in turn, this is putting downward pressure on property turnover; if those looking to move can’t find what they’re in search of, they usually stay where they are. She went on to say that as a result, the industry, economy and the public all tend to suffer.
Faulkner also drew attention to the effects of the ‘ripple effect’, where property price trends in some areas of the country occur elsewhere.
On this, she said: ”If prices haven’t ‘taken off’ at anything like the rate they have down south, will the current halt to house price rises (and, in some areas, reversal) which we have seen in London be replicated elsewhere? For example, even in areas such as Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire and Humber and the North West/East which have hardly had time to recover from the previous market crash?”
