This was down from 347 in July and 284 in June and hasn’t been this low since last August (2016), when estate agents has 287 house hunters registered per branch.
Supply of properties
The number of properties available to buy on estate agents’ books increased marginally from 35 in July, to 37 in August.
Sales agreed and sales to first-time buyers (FTBs)
The proportion of sales made to FTBs remained at 23 per cent in August, having fallen from 30 per cent in June. As expected during the summer, the number of sales agreed per branch also remained low in August, with eight on average per branch.
Mark Hayward, Chief Executive, NAEA Propertymark said: “House hunters tend to put their plans on hold over the summer months while they prioritise holidays, and as a result of this trend, stock is usually lower. However, while we saw the number of properties available increase very marginally last month, it wasn’t remotely enough to start to close the gap between supply and demand. We shouldn’t take August’s decline as a sign of things to come – we’ll see the market bounce back in September and ramp up towards the end of the year as house buyers desperately try to complete transactions before Christmas.”
