Summer market momentum slows as property supply dipped in June

The summer market momentum building thanks to warmer weather and reduced Brexit uncertainty took a hit in June, according to new research. 

Housesimple's Property Supply Index found that the number of new property listings fell between May and June, although compared to previous months the number of new properties coming to market remained positive.

The index shows that 61,775 new properties were listed on Home.co.uk last month, down from 63,001 in May. This is the second month in a row, however, when the index recorded more than 60,000 new listings. This follows lower totals of 31,825 in December 2018, 52,207 in January and 57,710 in April.

Regionally, only two areas - the North West and London - recorded a rise in the number of new listings in June at 3.92% and 2.03% respectively.

The worst performing regions were the South of England with a property supply dip of 8.74% and the South East where the number of new properties listed dropped by over 11%.

The best performing town or city was Bootle in the North West, where the number of new listings soared to 510 last month from 133 in May, equivalent to a rise of over 280%.

Other top performers included Bolton (+95.5%), Loughborough (+31%) and Worcester (+20%).

The biggest drop in new properties coming to market between May and June was recorded in Canterbury, Kent, where there were 78 new listings compared to 113 the previous month, a fall of 31%.

The top five poor performing towns and cities was made up by Truro (-30%), Warwick (-29%), Shrewsbury (-29%) and Huddersfield (-26%).

"Albeit marginal, the fact that house prices continue to climb overall demonstrates the resilience of the UK property market and reflects the more favourable economic factors including low unemployment and low interest rates at present," says Sam Mitchell, Housesimple chief executive.

"We’d expect to see momentum continue in July before slowing during August, as people go away for their summer holidays. However, savvy sellers can still benefit from listing their property during high summer, as they face less competition for buyers."