"The normal events – families growing, the desire to downsize, a new job, a change of lifestyle – the fundamental drivers for people buying and selling property, have remained unchanged."
The number of properties on the market in the UK has risen by 1.0% over the last 3 months, with the proportion sold (subject to contract) declining by a marginal 2.5%.
Of the approximate 320,000 UK properties with an agreed offer, this percentage reduction represents a total of 8,000 fewer properties. Under Agreed Offer properties now represent 36.1% of all properties on the market, down from 39.4% in mid-June before Brexit,
The weaker transactional data has resulted in the national average asking price of properties on the market falling by 2.0% (from £297,508 in mid-June, to £291,547 in mid-September).
Nick Leeming, Chairman at Jackson-Stops & Staff, commented: “Three months after the UK’s historic vote to leave the EU, the property market remains alive and active. There are more properties on the market today than on the day of the Brexit vote, and there has only been a marginal decline in the number of properties under offer. House prices have also declined only moderately. The normal events – families growing, the desire to downsize, a new job, a change of lifestyle – the fundamental drivers for people buying and selling property, have remained unchanged.
For London properties, while the market has not crashed, the upper end of the market is seeing a "significant decline in activity", according to the data.
London has seen asking prices 3% down from mid-June. Jackson-Stops & Staff data shows that properties priced below £1 million are still seeing high levels of interest, however with a smaller number of homes coming to market, competition among buyers who need to move is increasing.
London’s top end has suffered more than average with the proportion of agreed offers being over 5 times less than rest of the UK.
Of all of the properties on the market in London with asking prices above £2 million, only 7% are under agreed offer. This compares to 28% for all London properties.
Despite the fall in the Pound being attractive for foreign investors, the very high stamp duty for second home investors has dampened agreed sales – a trend that was occurring before the Brexit vote.
Nick Leeming added: “London has always been an island when it comes to the housing market and is governed by a range of forces that are not as strongly at play across the rest of the UK, such as significant international investment and High Net Worth buyers. The fact that there is a freeze around the higher value properties in the Capital is due to a number of factors, not just confidence levels following the Brexit vote, but also the impact of Stamp Duty at the very highest levels.
"Stamp duty amounts to £213,750 for a £2 million priced property (assuming it’s a second home) which doesn’t offer a great motive to buyers! Our outer London branches in locations such as Wimbledon, Richmond, Teddington and Weybridge are continuing to see high levels of demand, especially among families and young professionals, showing that this market remains active. This reduction in confidence therefore appears to be confined to the highest echelons with properties priced in the lower bands seeing substantially more interest. We anticipate that the market will correct itself as we head into the final quarter of this year.”
