Sales market performance shows no Brexit effect so far says estate agency

An analysis by a high-end estate agency of homes on the market appears to show no significant ‘Brexit effect’ - at least yet. 

On June 24 - the day the Brexit referendum result was announced - Jackson-Stops & Staff analysed over 750,000 properties for sale in the UK, which it says accounted for over 90 per cent of the total. It found that on that day, 41.5 per cent of properties on the market were already under offer. 

The same analysis undertaken on Wednesaday of this week - July 6 - revealed 39.9 per cent of properties for sale were under offer, a roughly unchanged proportion. In addition, the number of properties on the market has increased by more than 21,000 since the Brexit decision.

“In the short term, buyers and sellers are still being driven by the normal catalysts for entering the market. The true impact of the Brexit decision will only become apparent in around autumn, once we have navigated through the normally quieter summer months and a new Prime Minister is in place” says Nick Leeming, Jackson-Stops & Staff chairman.

“There could even be some emerging positives in this time – lower interest rates may mean enhanced affordability and our central London offices might benefit from the favourable exchange rate encouraging international buyers” he says.

JS&S says the high-end of the country house has been impacted however, but not by the Brexit decision. Instead, it claims the December 2014 stamp duty reforms are still seriously impacting sales for properties priced £1m-plus. 

“The pain [is] amplified the higher up the scale you go, and properties worth £2m or more often need to be discounted to reflect the higher stamp duty costs” says JS&S director Tim Dansie.