Significant pick-up in the housing market
The July Sentiment Survey by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, gauging the mood of agents, showed a significant pick-up in the housing market.
The stamp duty holiday has increased demand in July, agents report a significant increase in new buyer enquiries and new instructions. Agreed sales have also risen, indicating recovery in transaction levels.
Agents expect sales to increase over the next 3 months, however 12 month sale projections remain negative, a result of the furlough scheme and stamp duty holiday ending.
House price growth moved into positive territory for the first time since March. +8% of agents expect house prices to increase over the next 12 months.
Source: Dataloft, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Increase in demand for properties over £300k
The stamp duty holiday has led to a 14% surge in calls and emails to agents. Properties priced between £400–£500k have seen the biggest increase in interest, 49%. In 2019 they only represented 8% of sales, therefore we may see a shift in the distribution of transactions in 2020.
Properties priced between £500–£750k have also seen a surge in interest, 40%, representing 7% of sales in 2019. Properties priced over £750k have seen an 11% surge, representing only 4% of sales in 2019.
For properties priced less than £300k, the stamp duty holiday will not save first time buyers any money and homeowners only £5k. Therefore, they have only seen a 1% increase in demand.
With the stamp duty holiday benefiting homeowners and investors the most, particularly those with bigger budgets, we are likely to see increased demand for higher priced properties over the next 8 months.
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