Seasonal dip in housing market 'lowest for five years'

The property market showed surprising resilience during November, bucking the seasonal trend for double-digit decline in month-on-month activity.

Boards firm Agency Express says that the number of properties achieving ‘Sold’ status decreased by just 1.2%, while new ‘For Sale’ listings fell against the previous month by 7.3%.

Putting this into perspective, the figures for November this year show the lowest month-on-month seasonal drop in both new ‘For Sale’ and ‘Sold’ properties since Agency Express began its Property Activity Index in 2007.     

For properties achieving ‘Sold’ status during November, six of the 12 regions covered by the index showed month-on-month increases for November against October, with the hot-spots being the North-East (up 44.1%), the North-West (up 15.3%), Scotland (up 5.4%), South-West (up 4.0%) and central England (up by 3.2%).

The not-so-hot-spots for November compared to October were London (down 9.9%), East Anglia (down 9.4%), the South-East (down 7.1%), the East Midlands (down 4.8%) and the West Midlands (down by 4.3%).

Eleven of the 12 UK regions showed month-on-month decreases in new ‘For Sale’ listings during November with the worst performers being the North-East (down by 23.8%), the South-East (down 18.6%), Wales (down 14.0%) and the West Midlands (down 13.3%).

Stephen Watson, managing director of Agency Express, said: “We would normally expect to see a much greater seasonal drop in market activity in November from October, so these figures are surprisingly good news.

“There are significant regional variations, however.”