More than £3,600 has been wiped off the average selling price of a home in the last four weeks, as the summer slow down hits larger properties in particular, according to the latest market data.
Houses with four bedrooms or more are struggling to sell, remaining on the market for an average of 74 days, Rightmove’s monthly update found. Asking prices of homes coming to market in the last month have fallen by 1.2pc, in line with expectations and long term averages during the subdued summer selling season.
Property experts are waiting to see if the traditional rebound of activity in the market in autumn will be enough to regain strength. The number of buyer inquiries in July was done on the previous year, which benefited from a post-election boost, but it is 4pc on July 2014. Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “There is pent-up demand with potential buyers still enquiring in very large numbers though obviously more muted compared to 2015’s post-election highs.”
He added: “By autumn we should get a clearer view of the strength of any post-referendum hangover, though that also depends on buyers’ confidence to turn this interest into action. The latest interest rate cut making already cheap-to-borrow money even cheaper should act as an added boost to confidence.”
Meanwhile, there has been a huge spike in the number of rental properties on the market, but this is not translating into lower rents as demand has grown too.
The number of rental properties on the market was 23pc higher in July than the same period last year, and in London this hit one third, according to estate agency Countrywide.
This increase is partly due to investors rushing to complete on buy-to-let properties before stamp duty was hiked by 3pc in April.
Rents across the UK slowed, rising an average of just 1.5pc, with the fastest growth in Northern Ireland, but rents in London fell 0.5pc in the year to July. The last time the was a fall in rents in the capital was in 2010.
Demand for rental properties has also increased 10pc, as more people put off buying due to the uncertainty in the sales market after the vote to leave the European Union. Last week, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported the number of homes on the market was at a record low, and that housing market activity was sluggish.
Johnny Morris, the director of research at estate agency Countrywide, said: “While rental price growth has slowed, current market dynamics are likely to accelerate the growth of renting. It seems that with more stock and demand from tenants we will see the number of households renting increase in 2016.”
