"We were always going to see a reduction in transaction levels as many played the waiting game post-Brexit, rather than adjusting their price expectations"
While London may have been hardest hit where price growth is concerned, it still accounts for the largest number of sales with nearly 85,000 property transactions completing in 2017. However, this is down 27% when compared to the previous year.
Manchester places second where 13,416 sales completed last year, also down 24% on 2016.
Bristol (12,226), Birmingham (11,527), Nottingham (10,998), Leeds (9,497), Liverpool (9,243), Sheffield (7,596), Leicester (7,172) and Norwich (6,050) also placed in the top 10 for most transactions, proving the appetite for city living is still alive and well amongst UK buyers – although again, all saw transaction levels decrease by between 20% and 23% in 2017 compared to 2016.
Founder and CEO of Emoov, Russell Quirk, commented: “Now the dust has settled on a tough year we can survey the extent of the damage and while there is a notable reduction is property transactions, particularly in the more inflated areas of the property market such as London, the good news is transactions have remained fairly robust during 2017.
"We were always going to see a reduction in transaction levels as many played the waiting game post-Brexit, rather than adjusting their price expectations in line with the market to secure a sale.
"There is still a good appetite for property in England and Wales and while those looking to cash in on an existing investment may remain on the fence, there are still plenty of buyers willing to pay a fair market price and so those considering a sale should rest assured that now is as good a time as any to take the plunge.”
