LONDON (CU)_Over the recent past, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in demand for houses, with family homes being specially popular among potential buyers. However, the number of houses being put on the market for sale has experienced a significant decline, reporting a 25 per cent drop in the first half of this year in comparison to the same period last year. This high demand for limited available stock has driven UK house prices to a new high in June, which have been 30 per cent higher than the peak they reached prior to the 2008 financial crisis.
According to property website Zoopla, in the month of June, the average price of a home was £230,700, a 5.4 per cent increase in the same month in 2020. The London-based real estate company said this is on account of the sharp decline in the number of homes being put on sale, as supply failed to keep up with demand since the beginning of this year.
These findings were reaffirmed by Zoopla’s rival property firm NAEA Propertymark, according to which 40 per cent of properties sold in the UK last month were sold at a value higher than the original asking price. This was a result of more buyers fighting for limited available stock, the company’s chief policy adviser Mark Hayward said, since there about 19 potential buyers for each available property.
“We are very firmly still in a strong sellers’ market; properties are being snapped up swiftly and at record high prices. We do anticipate a rebalancing of the market over the coming months as the stamp duty holiday continues to be phased out and people return to normality,” he said.
Zoopla also agreed with these views as the website noted that as the effects of the extended stamp duty unwinds, prices are expected to ease towards the end of this year, but before the price growth edges upwards to 6 per cent in the coming months.
