31 October 2023
If you are covering property transaction levels, please see the following comment from Charlotte Nixon, mortgage expert at Quilter:
"The UK property market remains in a deep freeze as the icy winds of higher interest rates blow demand out of the market causing UK residential transactions to be 17% lower than September 2022 and 1% lower than August 2023 when seasonally adjusted.
"The normally busy summer months for property sales have been remarkably quiet with many buyers either sitting on their hands or simply put off altogether from the housing market. This has caused transaction levels to fall off a cliff. Usually as winter draws in property sales do start to slow anyway but this level of transactions is cause for concern for house prices.
"The interest rate decision later this week will also play a role in how house prices fair in the future. Inflation remains stubbornly high and if the Bank of England opts to raise interest rates once again it will prolong the dearth of demand in the market. Many analysts believe that the Bank of England will opt to hold which at the least will give potential borrowers some level of stability and potentially coax some to market especially given how high rents are at the moment.
"If the number of property deals continue to drop prices will drop with them as transaction levels act as a bellwether for the health of the market."
