House moves cool amid price fall fears
6th November 2018

New listings with estate agents in October fell by 5.5% across the UK, and by 6.8% in London, as recent house price falls, particularly in the South East and London, may have dissuaded homeowners from putting their homes on the market.

According to the latest Property Supply Index compiled by online estate agents Housesimple, new listings fell from 72,593 in September to 68,598 in October.

The Autumn rush to move before Christmas has not materialised, says the company. October normally sees a boost in supply coming to the market, but new stock levels were down in more than half (59.7%) of the 100 towns and cities analysed. St Helens in the North West saw the largest decline in property supply, with new listings last month down by more than a third (-33.8%) on September figures.

Sam Mitchell, CEO of Housesimple said: “After supply picked up in September, we were hoping this would lead to healthy new stock levels up to Christmas. But the resurgence in listings was rather short-lived as new supply fell again in October, albeit just below 70,000. This can hardly be considered a collapse, but stock levels have been bouncing along at the bottom of the barrel for some time now, and no-one seems to know how to boost supply.

“But it’s not all doom and gloom, and people do still need to move for a multitude of reasons. Life has to go on, and anyone who is committed to moving shouldn’t let the economic and market conditions dictate their decision making.”