Property sales stable despite looming General Election

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Data firm TwentyEA found the number of listings that were sold subject to contract (SSTC) was 51,025, a 9% increase on 46,802 from the same period in 2023

Buyers and sellers are proving determined to press ahead with their home moves despite the looming General Election, shows research.

Data firm TwentyEA, part of the TwentyCi group, evaluated data across the 14 days since the General Election was announced and found the number of listings that were sold subject to contract (SSTC) was 51,025, a 9% increase on 46,802 from the same period in 2023.

At the same time, the supply of new instructions was 70,049 – an increase of 3.4% from 67,753 last year.

Both the demand and supply metrics are more aligned with the same 14 days in 2019 – the last normal market prior to the pandemic.

This is a continuation of the activity seen since the start of the year, with the market generally performing well and closely comparable with 2019, according to TwentyCi.

The supply of new instructions for the first five months of 2024 was at a six year peak of 763,651. This figure was 13% higher compared with the same period last year and 5% in 2019. Demand, calculated based on the number of homes listed as SSTC, rose 17% from 2023 to 529,172, rising 5.5% from 2019.

The supply/demand ratio was 69.3% from January to May 2024. This was marginally up on last year’s 67.1% but back in-line with the more normal market of 2019 when it was 69%.

Across all regions of the UK, supply levels were higher than last year, shows the research.

Since 2019, new instructions have risen the most in Inner London having increased 26.6%.

Demand has also risen the most in Inner London, an increase of 21%.

Katy Billany, executive director of TwentyEA, said: With activity remaining steady despite the upcoming election, the market is looking pretty upbeat and is comparable with 2019, the period prior to the pandemic.

There’s a healthy balance in the number of deals being struck compared with the volume of new instructions coming to market, she said.

She added: Since the beginning of the year to the end of May, there was a 17.2% increase in the number of price changes compared with last year but this was most likely a sign of sellers becoming more realistic that the frenzied markets of 2021 and 2022 were firmly behind us.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of Getting Money Wise. The information provided on Getting Money Wise is intended for informational purposes only. Getting Money Wise is not liable for any financial losses incurred. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions.

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