Property supply has improved during the first quarter of 2023 following house price corrections and a settling of interest rates, according to Landmark Information Group.
However, the property data company has cautioned that consumers’ ability to buy remains a “crucial factor” in influencing the market trajectory.
Landmark’s newly released first quarter Residential Property Trends report suggests listings are strengthening and are only down 3% on the same period of 2019.
By March 2023, supply volumes exceeded those in March 2019 by 6%, according to the report.
Sold subject to contract (SSTC) volumes ended the quarter 22% down compared with the first quarter of 2019, while conveyancing search volumes for January this year are 38% down compared with January 2019.
SSTC volumes are recovering at a faster rate that search volumes, indicating a rising market, Landmark said.
The report said: “If this continues in the second quarter then the market will be in “touching distance” of 2019 volumes.
However, this contrasts with the continued subdued levels of mortgage valuations which reflect a shortage of buyer access to affordable mortgages, Landmark warns
Simon Brown, chief executive of Landmark Information Group, added: “As the housing market stabilises after the disruptions of last year, consumers’ ability to buy continues to determine market trajectory.
“While there is still strong appetite among movers, the availability of mortgages and cost-of-living pressures seem likely to play a significant role in shaping market conditions in the near-term. We see a recovery in property listings needing a similar level of mortgage availability for the market to overcome its recent corrections and adjustments.”
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You have to ask yourself why everyone is comparing the 2023 data on property against 2019? why not compare it with 2022, answer it is very scary. I mean why cherry pick, does the car industry say we will compare the sales of new cars in 2023 to 2019, or does it compare it with 2022, exactly.
There seems to be a conspiracy to help agents sleep walk into the fact that less stock was listed in Q1 of 2023 by a country mile and so less stock is under offer. Interest rates are likely to go up three more times this year, and with CALC, a government at the end of its term and a Russian war, the Brexit issues on trade and rampant food inflation - my thought is that public sentiment is to hunker down as it always does in these recessionary and uncertain economic troughs.
I think agents need proper guidance rather than being gulled that everything is alright, the three for sale boards in my street that have been up for five months tells me we are in a very different market, the sooner those with oversight of the market stop sugar coating things the better.
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