Housing demand falls to 12-month low: NAEA

As a result, the number of properties available to buy on estate agents’ books increased marginally, from 35 in July to 37 in August.

The proportion of sales made to first-time buyers remained at 23% in August, having fallen from 30% in June.

As expected during the summer, the number of sales agreed per branch also remained low in August, with eight on average per branch.
 
Mark Hayward, Chief Executive of NAEA Propertymark, said: “House hunters tend to put their plans on hold over the summer months while they prioritise holidays, and as a result of this trend, stock is usually lower. However, while we saw the number of properties available increase very marginally last month, it wasn’t remotely enough to start to close the gap between supply and demand.

"We shouldn’t take August’s decline as a sign of things to come – we’ll see the market bounce back in September and ramp up towards the end of the year as house buyers desperately try to complete transactions before Christmas.”