Agents report property market 'returning to normal'

Agents have begun experience a ‘more traditional’ market with demand dropping and offers coming in slightly under asking price, research claims.

The latest Housing Market Report from Propertymark claimed normality may be creeping back into the market.

The agency trade body said the number of new buyers registering per member branch in June echoed levels seen in the winter months, with more of a peak over spring. This is what estate agents would expect from a traditional market.  

Supporting this trend, the average number of viewings per property has fallen from 6.2 in April to 4.4 in June – a reduction of 29%.  

There were nine sales agreed on average per member branch in June – the same number as the previous two months. This figure is also in line with the pre-pandemic average for June of nine. 

Sales agreed as a percentage of stock remains high – at 33% in June. This is compared with the pre-pandemic average of 17 per cent of stock sold in the month of June between 2010 to 2019. 

However, some buyers are starting to secure homes under the asking price, with 27% of branches now reporting that most sales were completed below asking price compared with a low of just 15% in March, Propertymark said.
 

Supply also remained flat, with the average number of properties available to buy per member branch at 26 in June and the number of new instructions per member branch holding steady at 10 in June – the same figure as the past three months.  

Additionally, 72% of member branches told Propertymark that the average time from offer accepted to exchanging contracts in May was 13 weeks or more. This compares with a March figure of only 54%.

Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said: “For the past two years agents have seen a relentless market which defied patterns that we as practitioners had become accustomed to.

“However, this summer is seeing seasonal trends return. This cooling down is allowing the number of homes available to buy to recover, and interestingly, a subtle but telling change is in the prices being achieved.”