‘Slowest June since 2013’ as homes linger longer on the market

It's becoming increasingly difficult to sell a property, especially in those regions undergoing a price correction.

That’s the verdict from Home, a property platform that monitors transactions and price movements across the entire market. 

It says a rise in average prices of 0.3 per cent across England and Wales in the past month does not disguise an annual fall of 0.6 per cent - and much more in several regions. 

Home says only three regions - Wales, the West Midlands and Yorkshire - have seen house price rises outpace average inflation rate over the last 12 months.

And the median typical time on market for England and Wales is currently 90 days  that’s nine days longer than in June 2018, making it the slowest June since 2013.

Typical time on market data indicates the worst regional slowdowns are in Greater London (a 17 per cent rise in time on market, year-on-year), the East of England (19 per cent), the South West (18 per cent) and the South East (17 per cent).

Home also warns that which the supply of new instructions recovers in some regions it remains down 15 per cent in London.

“London leads the property cycle, arguably by around three years, when compared to the rest of the UK, and history tells us that the behaviour of this market is a reasonably reliable indicator as to how things will play out elsewhere” explains Doug Shepherd, director of Home.

“To date, four English regions, Scotland and Wales have yet to reach their price peak in the growth part of the cycle while three English regions are already in the price correction phase. It seems most likely that a similar pattern of events that are occurring in London will be repeated sequentially through the regions.”