There is life after Brexit - and it's the same as before

According to a new report from London based estate agent, Jackson-Stops & Staff, analysis of properties for sale UK-wide reveals little has changed post-Brexit. While the market has weakened marginally, reports of a crisis are unfounded.

Related topics:  Property
Warren Lewis
10th August 2016
brexit
"Whilst the market has weakened slightly following the Brexit result, we usually see a slowdown in activity over the holiday months and these figures suggest we are yet to see a property crisis"

Examination of data representing 90% of the entire UK property market undertaken on 22nd June, the day before the Brexit vote, revealed there were 866,179 properties for sale nationally. Of these, 352,301 were under agreed offer, representing 40.7% of the market.

The same analysis taken on 8th August shows the following:

• The total number of properties on the market (including those under offer) has risen by 1.7% to 872,953

• The number of properties which are under offer (including sold subject to contract) has fallen by 4.3% to 335,176

• The number of properties under offer represents 38.4% of all the properties on the market – only a 2.3 percentage point drop

• The country’s average asking property price has risen by £1,040 – from £240,470 on 25th July to £241,510 on 8th August

Nick Leeming, Chairman at Jackson-Stops & Staff, comments: “Whilst the market has weakened slightly following the Brexit result, we usually see a slowdown in activity over the holiday months and these figures suggest we are yet to see a property crisis. Although agreed offers have marginally decreased, many thousands of buyers are still making offers to buy homes in the present economic environment. As a result, many sellers are feeling confident, demonstrated by the fact that asking prices themselves have not fallen – and have in fact seen a moderate increase.”

Analysis only of properties under agreed offer or sold subject to contract reveals that the average house price is £232,699, 3% lower than the average of all properties two weeks ago. Looking at only the average asking price of all properties on the market, but not under offer or sold, shows an average asking price of £247,026, 3% higher than the average for all properties 2 weeks ago, suggesting that sellers with agreed offers have been more realistic in pricing their properties than those without an agreed offer in place.

Nick Leeming continues: “While sellers may have to drop their asking price a little to get an agreed offer, there is no evidence of sharp house price decline nationally. Indeed, sellers accepting an offer 3% to 5% below asking price is normal in a healthy housing market.

Despite the scaremongering being issued by a number of gloomy commentators, these figures show that the housing market continues to remain remarkably resilient. There is life after Brexit – the housing market is driven by need and these needs continue to motivate thousands of buyers.”

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