In September, the number of non-adjusted residential transactions remained steady, after suffering a 7.4% drop the previous month. Seasonally adjusted figures show that September's transactions are 5.4% higher compared with the same month last year.
Brian Murphy, Head of Lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau, said:
“After a busy start to the summer in July, housing transaction activity has since fallen back slightly. This seasonal change is common, and transactions are still 5% higher year-on-year: an encouraging sign that the market is continuing to recover.
“Demand from potential buyers is holding strong, especially as many are moving quickly to secure a competitive mortgage rate before interest rates rise. Borrowers are also benefitting from attractive deals offered by lenders keen to meet their targets by the end of the year. Although house prices have continued to rise, they are doing so at a much steadier pace compared to 2014, helping to improve affordability.
“It is certainly promising to see housing activity above the levels seen 12 months ago, but there is increasing pressure on levels of housebuilding as demand continues to outweigh supply. The reality is there are still not enough homes to cater for the strong housing demand across the UK, and transactions are likely to suffer if supply doesn’t soon improve. New government schemes to improve affordable housing must be in addition to better overall housebuilding levels if they are to make any real impact.”
Peter Rollings, CEO of Marsh & Parsons, commented:
“There was a real step-change in the gears of housing market activity over the summer, and since June property sales have been ticking along nicely, with this month-on-month rise the latest cause for optimism. There’s now clear blue water between sales levels now and a year ago and we’re seeing real eagerness from buyers.
“Already, many buyers and sellers will be using the countdown to Christmas as their deadline to move home and complete transactions, meaning activity often picks up the pace in autumn. London is a city of two halves at the moment – at the top-end, buyers are more cautious, and are taking their time to get used to steeper Stamp Duty on million pound plus property sales. But at the mid and lower range of the market where domestic buyers tend to dominate there remain high levels of demand facing up to restricted housing stock. Here we’re seeing good activity when property is priced correctly, and longer chains than ever as sales activity stacks up.”
