SSTC HITS NEW 2020 RECORD AS WITHDRAWLS REACH HIGHEST RATE IN 21 WEEKS
Main period analysed: Saturday 17th October – Friday 23rd October (17.10.2020 – 23.10.2020) Comparative week: Saturday 10th October – Friday 16th October (10.10.2020 – 16.10.2020)
The BriefYourMarket.com Property Index is exclusive to Property Industry Eye and is published fortnightly. - INFORMATION GATHERED DIRECTLY FROM BRIEF YOUR MARKET
SSTC HITS NEW 2020 RECORD.
FALL THROUGHS AT HIGHEST RATE IN 30 WEEKS.
NEW PROPERTIES COMING TO MARKET REMAINS ABOVE 60,000 FOR 15 WEEKS.
WITHDRAWALS AT HIGHEST RATE IN 21 WEEKS.
“Yet another record-breaking week in the continuing saga that is the UK property market. Last week saw SSTC hit a new 2020 record with 93,365 properties being updated as Sold Subject to Contract, beating the previous record set in week 41 by 6.1%. This positive news is further supported by a continuing strong level of supply, as new instructions coming to market have now remained above 60,000 per week for the last 15 weeks.
Inevitably, there has been a slight increase in the number of fall throughs. They reached their highest rate in 30 weeks last week. With higher levels of activity – coupled with new Covid-19 operation guidance at both national and localised levels, it is obvious that external factors, mortgage problems, lengthening chains, and conveyancing delays will begin to become more prevalent and have more of an impact.
Withdrawals peaked last week too, reaching their highest figure in 22 weeks, hitting rates that we previously saw back in June. What are the main drivers for such a sudden spike in withdrawal rates? Predominantly, we certainly must allow for most of the withdrawals to be a direct result of recent lockdown and firebreak restrictions. Confidence in selling and buying – especially in some parts of the UK – will have taken a huge hit as new measures are introduced.
Withdrawal rates have been sat – on average – around the 14,000-mark week-on-week, dropping to its lowest rate only a week ago. A significant 113.6% comparative rise would also suggest that, for some sellers, property performance is likely to be playing a significant role too.
Recent Rightmove reports suggested that it is now taking, on average, just 50 days to sell; just over seven weeks. Could the increase reflect the sentiment of some of the 256,663 instructions that came on the market back in July? A lot of these sellers will be reaching key milestones now, hitting 16 weeks+ on market in some cases.
So, alongside the majority of ‘genuine’ withdrawals (i.e. those taken off the market because of uncontrollable buying and selling conditions due to Covid-19), we must also allow a margin for frustrated sellers that aren’t seeing the results that may have been originally promised.”
