House prices in July were 5.3% down on the same month last year across the haart network.
Measured at Sold Subject To Contract, the average price of a property last month was £228,111 – up 1.5% on June, despite the yearly drop.
Transactions at the chain were up 7.8% on a monthly basis, and up 10.8% measured year on year.
In London, haart reports an average price of £560,856, up 1.3% on the month and 1% annually.
The firm also reported a 13.9% rise in first-time buyer applicants.
An upbeat CEO Paul Smith said negative commentary hid the true nature of the housing market, which he said was “in much better shape than it was this time in 2017 or 2016”.
However, he did warn of difficulties in the rental market.
Smith said: “But whilst first-time buyers are finding it easier to navigate the UK’s property market, tenants are progressively finding it more difficult.
“Initiatives should be put in place to tackle the ramifications of rising tenant demand and a lack of rental supply.
“The ongoing Brexit circus is unhelpful, and uncertainty is being fuelled by politically motivated commentary and negative warnings.
“The economy has the highest level of employment in decades, demand for property remains significantly higher than supply, and with a range of still low fixed rate mortgages readily available, there are plenty of reasons to be confident about the property market.”
Comments (4)
Maybe that’s because you actually taught your team how to pick up the phone and convince people to view properties by using every day as a call out day this year.
Sorry – so you don’t try and sell properties to people???
Guessing you are either a PB chap, or not very successful (maybe both!). You can’t ‘convince’ people to buy a property; period. But it IS our job as Estate Agents to generate interest for vendors, as well as servicing applicants wishing to purchase, is it not?!
Spot on observation on every point made qubes.
None of what you’ve just said is true. We have recently sold a maisonette to a guy that only wanted to view houses. 4 different people in the office tried convincing him to view the said maisonette. We booked it in anyway. Had the keys with us from previous viewings of houses. He finally agreed to view it and fell in love with it. That’s the point I was making. By the way, we’re doing great! Increasing market share, and lots of happy clients, and we’re nothing to do with PB. I’m guessing you’re either Countrywide or Spicerhart? Good luck.