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UK property market defies general election uncertainty, new data shows

This week’s UK Property Market Stats Show, for the week ending Sunday 2nd June 2024, features James Forrester, and the headlines are as follows:

+ House prices are 5.1% higher than Dec 2023

+ Listings – 21% lower than last week (as predicted) at 31k UK listings. YTD 9.6% higher than 2023 and 8% higher YTD than 2017/18/19

+ Total Gross Sales –  23,347 (21,417 same week in 2023). YTD Gross sales are 10.1% higher than 2023 YTD levels and  7.3% higher than 2017/18/19 levels.

+ Net Sales – 17,927, a dip from last week because of the Bank Holiday. Average for 20/21/22/23 was 16,040, so not bad at all.

+ Sale fall-throughs remains steady at just over 1 in 5 sales.

Chris’s In-Depth Analysis (Week 22) :

+ New Properties to Market: The UK saw 31,010 new listings. This year’s YTD listings stand at 776,724, 12.8% higher than the historical 8 year YTD average of 688,807, 8% higher than YTD 2017/18/19 and 9.6% higher YTD 2023. Graph 1    Graph 2

+ Average Listing Price: £446,604.

+ Average Asking Price of this week’s Listings vs Average Asking Price of the Properties that Sale Agreed this week: 20.8%. The long-term average is between 16% and 17%. Over valuing in the whole of the UK, higher valuing properties for sale (downsizing) and a lower propensity of London & SE properties to sell causing this.

+ Price Reductions: Last week, 18,791 properties saw price reductions, a significant number compared to the 8-year Week 18 average of 13,510. This means 1 in 7.89 properties each month are being reduced (Long term average 1 in 9.9 per month)

+ Average Asking Price for Reduced Properties: £407,521

+ Gross Sales: 23,347 properties were sold STC last week.

+ Accumulative Gross Sales YTD: The total stands at 535,183, exceeding the average of 499,001 from 17/18/19 and 486,034 in the same week 22 in 2023.

+ Average Asking Price of Sold STC Properties: Still staying in the  mid £360/370k’s range at £369,728.

+ Sale Fall Throughs: Significant drop in fall throughs at 5,420 (yet that is because of the Bank Holiday). For comparison, 5,298 YTD  ’24 average weekly figure (& 7,590 weekly sale fall throughs in two months after Truss Budget in Q4 2022)

+ Sale Fall Through Rate: Slight increase to figures seen in the last few months, to 23.2% for the week (Comparison – 21.76% for the last 3 months, whilst the long term 8 years average is 24.8% & it was 40%+ in Q4 2022).

+ Net Sales – at 17,927. YTD ’24 average 19,208.

+ Accumulative Net Sales YTD: The total stands at 418,624, 4.9% higher the 17/18/19 YTD Net sales average (399,243) and 11.3% higher than the YTD figure for 2023 for Net Sales (2023 YTD : 376,161).

+ House Prices for the week achieved £347/sq.ft. Almost identical to £348/sq.ft in May ’24 (April ’24 – £344/sq.ft, March ’24 & Feb ’24 both at £339/sq.ft & Jan ’24 to £331/sq.ft). House prices are 5.1% higher than Dec 2023 (although some regional differences). Graph 24

This week’s local focus is on Islington (N1)