New housing market supply fell across the UK in July

New residential property listings fell by 6% across the UK in July compared to June with London seeing a significant decline of 12.7%, the latest home supply index shows.

It meant that the number of home owners listing their properties fell below 67,000 in July after surpassing 70,000 in June and in London it was the first monthly fall since December 2017, according to the index from online estate agents HouseSimple.

July and August are traditionally quieter months both for buyers viewing properties and sellers listing homes, and a dip in new supply is not unexpected and the data shows that in 55.7% of the 100 towns and cities analysed, new stock levels were up in July compared with June.

A breakdown of the figures shows that Blackburn in the North West saw the largest drop off in supply with new listings down by 48.6%, followed by Winchester with a fall of 36.4%, Lichfield down 32.4%, Perth down 26.5% and York sown 25.3%.

Several other locations saw a significant fall in supply with Chelmsford down by 25%, Lincoln down 22.9%, Worcester down 22%, Edinburgh down 20.4% and Aberdeen down by 19.5%.

Poole led the growth in new listings with a rise of 42.8%, followed by Salford with a rise of 38.5%, King’s Lynn in Norfolk up 33.8%, Sale up 30.8% and Inverness up 28.9%.

New listing in London has reached a three year high in June but in July every borough apart from Newham saw stock levels fall. The biggest was a decrease of 29.9% in Camden, followed by a fall of 26.1% in Kensington and Chelsea, then Hackney down by 24.1%, Richmond upon Thames down 21.3%, and Hammersmith and Fulham down 18.5%.

Indeed, Camden saw almost a third fewer home owners listing their properties in July compared to the previous month. Meanwhile in Newnham listings increased by 11.9%.

‘The summer months tend to see a drop off in buyer and seller activity and there’s no evidence to suggest that buyers and sellers are withdrawing, and even the interest rate rise is unlikely to have a dramatic impact on the market,’ said Sam Mitchell, HouseSimple’s chief executive officer.

‘We may well see subdued seller activity in August as more hot weather is predicted, and then the hope is for a strong September as we enter the crucial Autumn period up to Christmas,’ he explained.

‘However, for sellers who might want to steal a march on the competition, putting your property on in August when stock levels are lower could pay dividends, as buyers will have less choice over the next few weeks,’ he added.