Agency chains report strongest July sales since 2007

LSL Property Services, owner of Reeds Rains and Your Move amongst other high street chains, says last month’s sales market was the strongest July since 2007.

Six regions of England and Wales have seen accelerations in the rate of house price growth, with East Anglia the strongest with an annual rise of 6.3 per cent. 

Reading in Berkshire is the urban area with the steepest rise over the past year, up 15.2 per cent, largely on the strength of its Crossrail connectivity from 2018. 

“After spearheading house price growth for the past five years, London has been knocked off pole position and now falls eighth out of the 10 regions in England and Wales in terms of annual rises – ranking only above the North and Wales with 1.8 per cent price growth year-on-year in June 2015” according to Adrian Gill, director of Reeds Rains and Your Move. 

He says London has been “stalled” by stamp duty changes at the higher end of the market, plus the rising value of Sterling compared to the Euro.  London property sales in the month of June were 13 per cent lower than a year previously. 

However, overall homes sales reached 90,000 in July, a boost of 13 per cent from the previous month. This marks the first time this year that sales levels have overtaken the equivalent month in 2014 – and is actually the strongest July since 2007, when the market was building up to its pre-crisis peak. 

Sales were 35 per cent higher then, standing at 120,845 in July 2007.