House buyers numbers fell slightly in June, latest agent research shows

The number of house hunters registered per estate agent branch fell slightly in June but remains high for the year as the housing market continues to show resilience, according to the latest industry report.

They fell from 307 to 305 but year on year demand has only fall by 1%. In June 2018 there was an average of 308 house hunters per branch, the housing report from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) shows.

However, the number of properties available per member branch dropped in June, from 41 in May to 37 and on an annual basis the supply of housing is down marginally, with 39 properties available to buy in June 2018.

The number of sales agreed per member branch remained at nine in June, the same level for the second month running and year on year, the number of property transactions stayed the same, with an average of nine sales agreed per branch in June 2018.

The number of sales made to first time buyers in June decreased, falling from 26% in May, to 23% in June while year on year they fell by 6%.

‘Although we’ve seen a slight drop in supply and demand, the housing market is still stronger than expected, showing signs of resilience amid political uncertainty,’ said Mark Hayward, NAEA chief executive.

‘The warmer months can often result in the market quietening down, but we’re not yet experiencing this just yet as demand remains high for the year. We’ll need to see if this trend continues over the next few months before we can conclusively say that confidence in the market has returned,’ he added.