Sales slide by 30% as buyer demand wanes - claim

Reduced homebuyer activity has led to a 30.5% drop in UK house sales, new research suggests.

The data also shows that one Scottish city is the only place to report an increase in transactions over the 12 months to September 2022.

Analysis of sales volumes held by the Land Registry up to September 2022 reveals there have been 843,600 sales transactions completed across the UK. 

This marks a drop of 30.5% compared with the 12 months previous during which there were 1.2m sales.

A regional analysis of the UK market by self-employed agency brand eXp shows that each and every corner of the land has seen a decline in sales, nowhere more so than the East of England where the annual figure has dropped by 37.3%, from 125,808 to 78,887. 

In the South East, sales have dropped by 37.2%, closely followed by the South West with a 37.1% decline. 

The smallest drop has been seen in Scotland where a decline from 121,544 transactions to 105,465 marks an annual drop of 13.2%. 

After a hyper-local analysis, eXp discovered that Maldon, Essex, has reported the nation’s biggest annual drop in sales at 49.4%. 

The City of Aberdeen is the only place in the UK to report an increase in sales over the 12 month period, with numbers rising by 4.1%. 

Head of eXp UK, Adam Day, said: “The UK’s housing market has cooled slightly in the past year. Buyers have been cautious in the face of economic uncertainty, and this has understandably contributed to a decline in the number of homes sold. 

“But it’s also important to note that there was an incredible surge in market activity during the peak of the pandemic and so while this decline in transactions may seem drastic, it’s really a return to normality.

“There remains a strong level of buyer activity across the market and house prices have not tumbled in the way many predicted they would. The current outlook for the market is also far brighter than it was just a few months ago and so those predicting a property market crash are likely to be disappointed come the end of the year.”