General Election result is deterring sellers

The most recent report from online estate agents HouseSimple.com has shown that the unexpected result of last month’s Election has apparently put off property sellers.

Results from the investigation reveal that new property listings slipped by 1.9% month-on-month in June.

Lack of Confidence

Due to the result of the Election and ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit, it appears that the housing market is suffering from a distinct lack of confidence. Price growth is stalling across many regions and the forecasted spike in new listings has as yet not materialised.

Of the 100 towns and cities analysed by the HouseSimple report, 81% saw property supply fall during June, in comparison to May.

Dundee and Barnsley saw the largest fall in property listings, down by 48.1% and 39.3% respectively month-on-month.

From the few regions that actually saw increases, Lichfield and Hartlepool saw the most prominent gains, of 20.6% and 18.7% respectively.

London also bucked the trend, with supply rising by 5.3% across all boroughs.

Drought

Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, noted: ‘The supply drought continues. The property market was hoping for a downpour of new stock in June, but the Conservatives crawling over the line failed to deliver the injection of confidence the market needed, and put paid to any chance of a late Spring bounce. Price growth has stalled, and sellers, it appears, are choosing to stay put, rather than accept marketing their properties at a lower price then they might have done a few months ago.’[1]

‘Sellers maybe need a dose of reality, because price growth slowing should not be the only reason to hold-off moving. The housing market overheated and it was inevitably going to cool at some point. If sellers are waiting for prices to go up again, that could be a long wait. If anything, homeowners should see this as a good climate to sell as long as they price correctly. If prices have dropped where they live, they are likely to have dropped, possibly by even more, in the area they’re planning to buy.’ Mr Gosling concluded. [1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/election-result-scares-off-sellers.html