Significant slowdown in sales process – latest Propertymark Housing Market Report released

The latest Propertymark Housing Market Report for July 2022 has been released, highlighting the evidence that there has been a significant slowdown in the sales process.

Key points from report:
  • 41% of member branches report in July that the average time from offer accepted to exchanging contracts was now over 17 weeks
  • 62 new homebuyers registered per member branch in July
  • 9 new properties advertised for sale per member branch
Summary:
  • Agents reporting average time from offer accepted to exchanging contracts has been growing over the past two years. This month hit a new record with 41 per cent of agents reporting average times stretching over four months.
  • We are continuing to see the evidence of a summer dip as buyers and sellers turn their attention to holidaying.
Demand from house-hunters:
  • The number of new buyers registering per member branch in July has remained lower than in the spring months as summer market conditions
Sales agreed:
  • There were nine sales agreed on average per member branch in July – the same number as the previous three months. This figure is close to the pre-pandemic average of eight for July (based on 2010-2019 figures).
  • Sales agreed as a percentage of stock remains high – at 39 per cent in July. This is compared to the pre-pandemic average of 16 per cent of stock sold in the month of July between 2010 to 2019.
Homes available to buy:
  • The average number of properties available to buy per member branch was 24 in July. This is still well below the pre-pandemic average of 51 properties available in July (based on 2010-2019 figures). There was little change month-to-month on the number of new instructions per member branch, which sat at nine in July.
Time to exchange:
  • 41 per cent of member branches told us that the average time from offer accepted to exchanging contracts in July was 17 weeks or more. This is a new record and stands well above the pre-pandemic average for July of only sixper cent (based on 2015-2019 figures).
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, comments:

“Our latest data shows a sharp spike in the number of agents reporting the average time taken for sales to complete being 17 weeks or longer. 

“This, coupled with lack of stock and high demand in the market, is proving difficult for some first time buyers or current homeowners as an existing mortgage in principle obtained before setting out to view a property will likely expire before completing on the purchase.”

 

See the full July Housing Market Report.

 

Kindly shared by Propertymark

Main article photo courtesy of Pixabay