Reducing property instructions and a lack of new listings is causing the property market to remain sluggish in the opening quarter of 2019.
According to the TwentyCi & Property Homemover Report 2019, the 430,000 new listings entering the market in the opening quarter of this year represents a 5.3% drop on 2018’s opening quarter.
In part, reduced housing stock has been impacted by a high percentage of the listed properties being marketed to rent. In areas like Manchester and Newcastle, around half of all properties are available to rent. In London, 70% of all listings were for rental properties.
Whilst the report claims property exchanges have increased by 7.4% in the opening quarter of 2019 compared with last year’s figures, the market remains subdued.
Average property prices have also started to plateau or decrease when compared to the figures from 2018. In 6 out of 11 regions of Britain, property prices have dropped by 1% and 4%. Only the Yorkshire Regions, East and West Midlands have enjoyed any growth when compared with 2018.
Similarly, in 40% of the UK’s major cities’ prices have dropped or remained in line with 2018’s figures. In areas like Glasgow, prices have dropped by 5% in the past year.
The report claims that there is no significant impact because of Brexit as a national story. Instead, pockets of disturbance have been noted in remain areas in particular. Overall, majority remain area property prices have fallen marginally, but have remained around the average price of £470,000. In contrast, majority leave areas have seen the average instruction property price rise from just over £200,000 to almost 250,000.
Households earning between £30,000 and £39,999 per year were more likely to buy property than any other wage boundary, with more than 40,000 transactions taking place in the opening quarter. Promisingly for low income households, there was a 38% increase in households earning between £15,000 and £20,000 per year buying a property of their own.
All properties valued over £50,000 enjoyed an increase in the number of properties exchanged compared with 2018’s figures. Interestingly, the 58 properties exchanged in the opening quarter of 2019 that were valued over £5 million marked a 66% increase on 2018’s figures. Similarly, there was a 46% rise in property exchanges with properties valued between £2 million and £5 million.
Colin Bradshaw, TwentyCi’s Chief Customer Officer, commented:
“The lack of properties coming to market combined with the continued hiatus on the outcome of the Brexit process is undoubtedly holding the property market back. The continued deferment of decisions by homeowners to enter the property market is holding back supply and in turn progression throughout the property ladder. Should we achieve an orderly exit from the EU and a two-year transition then consumer confidence may return fuelling an increase in both volume and momentum within the property market”.
Click here for the full report.
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