Demand for housing has started to fall back following a surge in post-lockdown activity and is expected to decline further in the coming months, according to research from Zoopla, as supply in the market increases.
The number of enquiries and online searching activity fell 8 per cent during the week to 17 June, although remained 46 per cent higher than levels in early March.
New sales agreed have rebounded back to pre-lockdown levels, although there was significant regional variation, with six English cities including London, Bristol and Newcastle recording a decline in sales during the week to 14 June compared with February's average. However, that may also be due to supply-side factors, with those estate agencies reporting that available inventory per branch was also down more than a tenth in those cities, compared with pre-pandemic levels.
There was evidence of a similar level of differentiation in the pace of sales price growth across England in May. House prices were up an annual 2.1 per cent, according to Zoopla’s 20-city index, although that moderated from a 2.4 per cent rise in April. But growth was strongest in the Northern cities of Nottingham and Manchester, which recorded rises of 4.3 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively, and weakest in Oxford and Aberdeen, which both reported price deflation.
The Welsh housing market reopened on 22 June and Scotland will permit estate agencies to open and house moves from 29 June.
The asking price for homes listed as sold on Zoopla across the UK was 7 per cent higher than a year ago during the first two weeks of June.
