Demand for housing
- The number of house hunters registered per estate agent branch increased in July, from 305 to 316
- Year-on-year, housing demand has grown, rising from 303 house hunters per branch in July 2018.
Figure 1: Number of house hunters per branch
Supply of available properties
- The number of properties available per member branch also increased in July, from 37 in June to 41
- Year-on-year, the supply of housing remained the same.
Sales agreed
- Despite there usually being a summer lull, the number of sales agreed per member branch remained at nine in July, the same level for the third month running.
Sales to first-time buyers
- The number of sales made to FTBs increased, rising from 23 per cent in June, to 26 per cent in July
- Year-on-year, this is a decrease of four percentage points from July 2018 when it stood at 30 per cent.
The summer is typically a quieter period as house buyers and sellers put their plans on hold with housing market activity stalling as a result. However, this has not been the case this year. Buyers can only delay the need to move for so long and we’re now seeing buyers storm the market hoping to complete transactions before the end of October.
