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Housing Supply Hits Six-Month High, Reports NAEA
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
Housing supply has hit a six-month high, says the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) in its August Housing Market report.
Housing Supply Hits Six-Month High, Reports NAEA
Signalling that the property market is moving in the right direction, the NAEA found that the number of homes up for sale rose to an average of 41 per estate agent branch in August – the highest level recorded since March this year, when agents reported an average of 54 properties per branch.
The number of sales to first time buyers also rose in August, from 25% of all sales in July to 28%. Annually, this figure is up by eight percentage points, as just 20% of total sales went to first time buyers in August 2015.
The report also found that two in five (39%) estate agents expect demand to grow following last month’s interest rate cut by the Bank of England, while a quarter (25%) think that first time buyers will benefit from the reduction.
In August, the number of house hunters registered per NAEA member branch dropped slightly, to an average of 287, from 298 in the previous month.
Additionally, three quarters (76%) of properties sold per NAEA member branch were sold for less than the original asking price, down by three percentage points on July, when 79% of properties sold for less than the asking price.
The Managing Director of the NAEA, Mark Hayward, comments on the data: “Following a few months of uncertainty in the market, it’s more than encouraging to see things moving in the right direction. Although we have seen a slight drop in demand, the fact that supply has risen means more choice for those that are looking for a new home, and we can see the impact of that because the rise in sales to first time buyers was higher than we normally see in August.”
He adds: “News from the Treasury this month that Government deposits on the Lifetime ISA can be used towards the initial deposit to secure a property and the impact of interest rate cuts will also raise confidence in first time buyers that now is a good time to be looking to buy.”
The news regarding the Lifetime ISA arrived as an investigation revealed that Government bonuses given through the Help to Buy ISA scheme cannot be used as an initial deposit on a property purchase.
