Number of houses put on the market sees its biggest fall in ten years

House prices are always increasing or decreasing dependent on many factors. But what about the number of houses on the market available to buy? This is also a number which is affected by all sorts of things, including politics. You’ve probably heard of the UK general election taking place on the 12th of December this year, in an attempt to create a new Parliament to help with Brexit.

Rightmove have said that we’ve seen the biggest drop in houses entering the market in the last ten years, possibly caused by this upcoming election. We’ve also seen a drop in asking prices but this is expected as the market slows in the lead up to Christmas.

The amount of people selling their house on the open market decreased by nearly 15% in the 4 weeks leading up to 9th November compared to the same timescale last year. It’s the biggest drop since August 2009 during the recession.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

What may have caused this drop?

The large drop in properties on the market may have been caused by the upcoming election and Brexit. There’s uncertainty about what could happen to stamp duty after the election, so some sellers could be holding off because of this. The mixture of the election, Brexit, and Christmas causes an unattractive market to enter for many.

What about house prices?

Compared to last month where average asking prices fell by 0.2%, the average asking price has increased by 0.3%. The Office for National Statistics shows that wages are rising at 3.6% with consumer price inflation at 1.5%. This means that affordability is continuously increasing resulting in the risk of a drastic house price crash lowering.

Annually, house prices in London drop the most. In the past year, the average asking price in Greater London decreased by 0.8% to £609,506. At the top of the market we are seeing the worst of the drops; 5.4% monthly decrease and 3.7% annual drop.

The biggest annual rise at 3.1% in house prices has been in Yorkshire and the Humber, where the asking price sits at an average of £192,808. However this region has seen a monthly drop of 1.3%.

Thinking of selling?

Are you thinking of selling but unsure what will happen to the market following the election and Brexit? Leave your comments below about what you’ve decided to do and why, we’d love to hear!