UK homes are taking almost twice as long to sell this year
BRITAIN’S homeowners are taking almost twice as long to sell their properties after a turbulent year for the nation’s housing market.
It took an average of 35 days to agree a sale on a UK home last month, roughly 15 days longer than a year ago, according to a report from property portal Zoopla. In London, homes are taking 41 days to sell, compared with fewer than 28 days in March 2022.
“Demand has weakened from the red hot conditions of 2022 when buyer demand was very strong and there was a chronic lack of supply,” said Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla.
After a sales rush fuelled by a Covid-era tax break, Britain’s housing market is now cooling due to higher borrowing costs and a drop in house values. Sellers accepted an average 4.5 per cent discount on their asking prices in February, according to a separate Zoopla report.
There are some signs that activity is starting to pick up. The average estate agent had 25 houses available to buy last month, compared with fewer than 15 a year earlier, the report said — though even after this rise, the number remains slightly lower than it was before the coronavirus pandemic.
Zoopla expects about 500,000 homes to change hands in the first half of this year, a 39 per cent drop compared with the first half of 2021. Still, the 2023 forecast is broadly in line with the three years before the pandemic.
While demand for homes is far weaker than this time last year, it’s on the road to recovery from the shock rise in mortgage rates after September’s mini-budget. That’s off the back of a stronger labour market and the stabilisation of home loan costs, according to the report.
“The average time to sell has peaked now and is starting to fall back as the market continues to improve,” Zoopla’s Donnell said. However, “higher residential values and affordability pressures in London mean the time to sell remains above average”. BLOOMBERG
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