Subdued Property Listings Exacerbate ‘Supply vs. Demand’ Challenge
Property listings have been declining significantly.
Data from the latest edition of Landmark Information Group’s Quarterly Property Trends Report identified a fifth consecutive month of low property supply levels, with new property listings reporting lower numbers than pre-pandemic numbers in 2019.
The report that you can find by following this link, reflecting activity in the England and Wales residential real estate industry during July, August and September 2021, shows that listings fell an average of 9% compared to 2019 data, while demand continued to outperform supply, maintaining a sustained imbalance in the market. July was the only month where listings were slightly higher than SSTC, the first month since October 2020.
With the end of the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday, which ended on September 30, the transfer community again had to handle significant fluctuations in completion activities in a race to get past the deadline. Completions reached 44% more in September than in September 2019, although the previous two months saw fewer completions than the previous two years.
This has been a rollercoaster period for property attorneys and shippers as they navigate the various SDLT vacation timelines and consequent spikes in inactivity.
Regarding other elements of the study, the property search order volume data appears to present more stable results, with figures closely aligned with the statistics reported in 2019.
Simon Brown, chief executive officer of Landmark Information Group, said: “The real estate industry has shown remarkable resilience over the past 18 months as it has had to go through many challenges, since the market closed amid the heyday of closings from Covid until market surges activity driven by government stimulus activities while managing home-work, licensing and unpredictable market conditions.
He added: “As much of the real estate industry breathes a sigh of relief after the various increases in market activity ahead of Stamp Duty deadlines, many aspects of the market are beginning to show more stable numbers, including the SSTC, the volumes of legal search requests and mortgage appraisals. However, we see that the demand for properties continues to exceed the supply.”
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