In England’s real estate market, buyers are outnumbering sellers as low prices and low mortgage rates have increased interest for home ownership. On the supply side, sellers are sitting on their property, reluctant to put it on the market when prices are so low. For more on this see the following article from Property Wire.
There are four house hunters for every property for sale in the UK and there would be even more if the controversial home information packs were scrapped, it is claimed.
Figures from the National Association of Estate Agents show that average estate agent in the UK has 299 property hunters on their books in May and sold an average of 10 properties.
The figures from the NAEA survey of its members back recent claims from analysts that the recent rise in house prices are based on a rise in interest from buyers in a market where homeowners are reluctant to put their home up for sale, leading to demand outstripping supply.
‘Our members are showing that there are plenty of buyers out there. More often than not these are also potential sellers who are at the beginning of the process so there is bound to be a lag which creates a shortage of properties in the short term,’ said Gary Smith, president of the NAEA.
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‘With mortgage interest rates at historically low levels and prices now far more realistic than in previous years, home ownership in the UK seems to be set to lead the way out of the recession,’ he added.
Buyers are still able to negotiate a discount, however, with the average selling price 6.3% below the actual asking price.
The survey also found the number of first time buyers increased to 43% in May, a significant increase on last month’s 23%.
There is still concern about the impact of home information packs with NAEA members saying that they are deterring homeowners from putting their property up for sale and stunting market recovery since new rules were introduced in April which means sellers must have a pack before they can market their property.
One in ten agents believes that the number of people selling would double if HIPs were taken off the market. A fifth of all agents believed that the number of sellers would increase by 20 to 25% and 91% were adamant that customers paid little or no attention to the controversial packs anyway.
This article can also be read at Property Wire, an international real estate news website.
