August house sales are strongest in eight years
HOUSE sellers’ asking prices edged down only slightly in August, bringing an end to a trend seen over the previous seven years when buyers were able to snap up a property at a bargain price over the summer holidays.
A 0.8 per cent or £2,258 month-onmonth price fall took the average asking price to £292,284 across England and Wales, according to property website Rightmove.
It is the strongest price performance for the month of August since 2007, when there was a 0.6 per cent increase in asking prices.
Asking prices are now 6.4 per cent higher than they were a year ago.
Rightmove put the more muted than usual price fall in August down to a shortage of new sellers combined with house hunters remaining active.
Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: “The underlying shortage of property coming to market compared to buyer demand has helped to deliver the strongest August price performance since before the credit crunch. Buyers can normally pick up some bargains in August as sellers who are marketing their homes when they should be holidaying often have a pressing need to sell and mark their prices down pretty aggressively.
“At 0.8 per cent down on the previous month, this is the least generous that sellers have had to be for eight years and a clear sign of upwards price pressure in the pipeline.”
Rightmove’s research into why more sellers are not coming to market found the top reasons sellers are holding back are that they cannot find anywhere they want to buy, they are being put off by moving costs and that they cannot find a property they can afford. Last week, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) highlighted a “vicious cycle”, whereby the limited choice on offer is in turn putting would-be movers off putting their home on the market.
Rics said that the shortage of properties on the market worsened in July to its lowest levels since its records started in 1978, with about 47 properties for sale per surveyor.
For hesitant home owners who are undecided about coming to market because of a lack of choice, Mr Shipside continued: “Selling subject to contract before you try to buy sounds concerning to many, but with fewer properties for sale you need to have a buyer for your property or you will be treated as a less serious buyer yourself.”
Rightmove’s report showed that several areas of England and Wales saw sellers increase their asking prices in August, with a 1.2 per cent increase recorded in the North East of England, a 0.5 per cent rise in the North West of England and a 0.1 per cent increase in the West Midlands.
In London, asking prices fell by 1.3 per cent month-on-month, taking the average asking price there to £606,826.