Agency stock is rising but sales are stuttering – research

Property supply is improving but fewer properties are going under offer, research suggests.

Analysis of quarter two property market activity by data firm Landmark Information Group found listings were 12% higher in June 2023 than the 2019 benchmak but transactions are failing to progress to the sold subject to contract phase (SSTC).

The SSTC level is 23% lower than in June 2019, according to the research.

This has also pushed completions down by 13% below the first three months of the year and 39% behind the second quarter 2019 average.

Demand was also 35% lower in April 2023 compared with April 2019 and 23% lower in June 2023 versus the same month in 2019, Landmark Information Group said.

Simon Brown, chief executive of Landmark Information Group, said: “Despite the promising signs of market stabilisation we were seeing at the end of the first quarter, our data clearly shows how the broader economic instability was impacting the transaction pipeline into the second quarter of this year. 

“Progressed demand has remained weak, likely due to ongoing high interest rates and subsequent restricted mortgage availability and affordability – and this has had an inevitable knock-on effect across the rest of the transaction milestones.  

“Activity will only flow through the pipeline once the market finds a balance between interest rates, inflation and the cost of housing. When that time comes, speeding up property transactions will be essential to a swift and sustained recovery.”