Both demand and supply of housing falling says NAEA
The National Association of Estate Agents, the UK's leading professional body for estate agents, once again reported a fall in both housing demand and supply in its latest - November - report.
The organisation found that demand was lowest for a November (282 registered house hunters per member branch) since 2012 (263) and it was down year-on-year by 15% (333 in November 2017).
Supply also fell and for the second consecutive month with sales agreed also decreasing.
First time buyers took up the same proportion of all sales as for October - 23% - however year-on-year, sales to this group declined from 27%.
Perhaps evidence of Brexit uncertainty can be detected in these findings?
More than 4/5 properties still selling for less than asking price
The NAEA found that for November, 81% of all properties sold eventually went for less than asking price, however it did not give this news any prominence. It rather pointed out that 7% of properties were eventually sold for more than asking price.
This approach might be understandable, given for how long the vast majority of properties have been being sold for less than asking price, however we still maintain that this stark fact betrays one of the fundamental issues which the housing market in England and Wales continues to be affected by.
Simple economics dictates that sales volumes, all other things being equal, would increase if prices were to decrease. But prices, if not increasing at the rate they were, still ultimately remain far higher than expected.
Andrew Boast, co-founder of SAM Conveyancing, said:
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There's increasing evidence that Brexit has already affected people's purchasing decisions in the housing market in England and Wales. Undoubtedly the market, however, isn't uniform: there's also evidence that foreign investors are taking advantage of lower prices and the fall in the value of the pound to buy houses, particularly in the capital and the luxury end of the market
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Additionally there are areas of the UK such as, for example, the areas near Northern Ireland's border with Ireland, where it'll continue to be a roller-coaster ride for traders in general as well as house purchasers
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Whatever happens, assuming Brexit goes ahead, the more disorderly it is, then the more uncertain will be the outlook for the housing market, particularly in the short term, and people are generally more likely to postpone purchasing and selling houses as a result
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Whatever it chooses to do, the Government would be well-advised to be firm in its decisions to provide the certainty which all markets benefit from. Additionally it should 'put its money where its mouth is' and deliver far more on its promise to increase the supply of affordable housing. Brexit or no Brexit, The country as a whole continues to have a housing crisis which the Government has done very little to combat.
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