Each property on sale has 19 potential buyers, claims agency body

“There is an average of 19 buyers for every available property on the market” according to Propertymark’s latest market snapshot for sales.

In its new report, the NAEA wing of Propertymark says that in June - the most recent data available - no less than 40 per cent of properties sold for over the original asking price.

This is another record and beats the last one - set just a month earlier - when in May some 33 per cent of properties sold exceeded the asking price. 

The average number of sales agreed per estate agent branch fell slightly to 11 in June, from May’s figure of 12. Year-on-year, this figure is the highest for the month of June since 2017 when the number of sales per branch also stood at an average of 11 per month. This is also slightly higher than last year’s figure of 10 during June 2020.

The number of sales made to First Time Buyers stood at 27 per cent in June, which has been the same since March this year.

In terms of supply  the number of properties available per member branch stood at 23 in June, falling slightly from 25 in May; this is the joint lowest ever on record for the second month in a row. Prior to this the record was in December 2002 when there were also 25 properties available per branch.

The average number of house hunters registered per estate agent branch stood at 426 in June, which is a jump down from 506 in May, but in line with the previous month’s figure of 427 in April.

Year-on-year this is the highest figure on record for the month of June for six years, since June 2015 when the figure stood at 439.

Mark Hayward, chief policy advisor at Propertymark, says: “It is astonishing to see demand for housing breaking records yet again this month, with more and more homes selling for over the asking price this year as consumers hurried to beat the first tapered stamp duty deadline. 

“With 19 buyers per available property, we are very firmly still in a strong sellers’ market; properties are being snapped up swiftly and at record high prices.

“We do anticipate a rebalancing of the market over the coming months however, which is much needed. As the stamp duty holiday continues to be phased out and people return to normality now that most Covid restrictions have been lifted, they will be spending money saved during the pandemic on white goods for their new homes.”