What is currently happening in the UK property market?
The UK property market for the week ending Sunday, 3rd March 2024 (Week 9) continues on a good track with regard to transaction levels and house prices achieved.
In this week’s UK property market stats show with Bryan Mansell, the headlines are as follows:
· House Prices on Sale Agreed homes in February £338.77/sq.ft (Jan ’24 to £331sq.ft)
· Listings for last week (Week 9), like last week, are 10% higher than Wk 9 average (2017 to 2024).
· Total Gross Sales YTD are 11.1% than 2023 YTD levels & 8.4% higher than 17/18/19 levels
· Net Sales last week 14.5% higher than Week 9 2023
· Sale fall-throughs dip to below 1 in 5 sales.
Chris’s In-Depth Analysis (Week 9) :
+ New Properties to Market: The UK saw 37,447 new listings. This year’s YTD listings stand at 294,599, 8.6% higher than the historical 8 year YTD average of 271,118.
+ Average Listing Price: £435,874.
+ Listing vs Sale Agreed Prices: The difference stands at 23%. The long-term average is between 16 and 17%, so something this high continues to concern me.
+ Price Reductions: Last week, 19,665 properties saw price reductions, a significant number compared to the 8-year Week 9 average of 13,945. This means 1 in 8 properties each month are being reduced.
+ Average Asking Price for Reduced Properties: £398,818. The important thing here is to analyse the asking price of properties coming on the market vs average asking price of properties being reduced vs average asking price of properties being sold stc.
+ Gross Sales: Impressively, 26,373 properties were sold stc last week. Its was 23,208 for the same week 9 in 2023. Average for 17/18/19 was 23,080 for Week 9 – therefore, all things looking well.
+ Accumulative Gross Sales YTD: The total stands at 200,823, exceeding the average of 185,132 from 17/18/19 and 180,748 in the same week 9 in 2023.
+ Average Asking Price of Sold STC Properties: Holding steady at £355,424, continuing to mirror the latter half of 2023.
+ Sale Fall Throughs: Back to normal medium levels this week at 5,224, still below than the 2023 while of year average of 5,382 weekly fall-throughs and 7,590 weekly fall thrus in 2 months after there Truss’onomics Budget in Q4 2022.
+ Sale Fall Through Rate: Back to its medium term downward trend at 19.81% for the week (8 years average is 24.8%).
+ Net Sales at 21,149 for the week, above the 17/18/19 average of 18,800 for Week 9.
+ Accumulative Net Sales YTD: The total stands at 157,016, 105.7% of the 17/18/19 average. The YTD figure for 2023 for Net Sales 136,063.
+ House Prices on Sale Agreed homes for whole February finished at £338.77/sq.ft (based on 82,912 UK properties sold stc / sale agreed). For comparison, it was £326.71/sq.ft in Q4 2023 and £329.74/sq.ft in whole of 2023.
Local Estate & Letting Agent Focus:
This week’s local focus is on the Bridlington property market
Watkin’s Reflections:
I know I keep banging on about, yet it’s vital to remember that in 2023, only 52.8% of the properties listed by UK estate agents resulted in an exchange of contracts (and thus you got paid on them).
A flip of coin if you get paid (or not) is not good odds.
This low success rate can largely be attributed to issues within the estate agency sector itself. These include the intense competition to secure instructions with the temptation to provide excessively high valuations to win a listing bonus or outdo rivals.
Estate agents must improve their methods, embrace cutting-edge marketing strategies, and offer advice that genuinely meets the needs of sellers, even if that means you walking away and getting it second time round.
Also, let us not forget 50% of the people who moved home in 2023 had only been in their home for an average 6 years and 11 weeks! Yet only 1 in 8 go back to the agent they bought off!.
What the hell are you doing UK Estate Agents – why are you not keep in touch with your old buyers and vendors?
Both sets of figures highlight the importance of managing both our own and our clients’ expectations realistically and developing effective marketing and nurture campaigns. Doing so can greatly enhance the likelihood of success and ensure that estate agents are not merely participants in the property market but are leading it.
