Property market gets slow

The property market across the UK gets slow

With little activity, the property sector in the UK continues to be close to stagnant as fewer new listings take place. There is a drop in the number of houses coming to the market across the UK. Also, the time when the property comes up for listing and the time it actually sells, varies across the county.

While the figure is 41 days for Edinburgh, it is 50 days for Glasgow – two cities which have the least amount of waiting time. Among the 20 cities surveyed by Post Office Money and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, Swansea fares fourth from the bottom, where the average time to wait for a house is 110 days, while the average time across biggest cities in the UK is 96 days. Cities which fall below Swansea in the survey include London, Liverpool and Belfast. The average time for which housing properties stay on the market is 111 days for London and 112 days for Liverpool, while the number is 119 for Belfast.

The average property price in Swansea is £140,661 which is much below the national average, but the time for a house to sell is still long keeping in mind the average waiting time. That is why the city has emerged as one of the slowest places in the UK to sell a house. Even Cardiff, with a higher average property price tag of £196,625 stays above Swansea on the list of cities covered under the survey. It takes only 86 days for a house property to sell in the city.

However, the findings of the survey has been disputed by at least one property agent. Simpson Estate Agents, which is in the business for years and sells properties across the city, denied a slowdown in the market. The company’s owner, Nick Simpson, said that he is in the business for years and does not think that the market is doing badly. According to him, the findings cannot be generalised for the city and it depends on the specific property. The city is diverse and has variety of properties for sale. The location and other factors play an important role in determining the time for which the property stays on the market. He said that there could be reasons why some properties take time to sell.

According to the managing director of Post Office Money Owen Woodley, the difference in time to sell reflect the changes in the number of properties listed for sale in cities across the UK which should be seen against a backdrop of muted but steady increases in house prices across the country and sustained demand from the first-time buyer market. He said that based on previous research, it can be said that first-time buyers are taking a flexible approach to finding an affordable home, most especially towards location.

But, second-steppers have less flexibility as they are specifically looking to move to a new area or a bigger property. He said that if a sale moves faster or takes longer than planned, buyers can face unexpected costs. However, Post Office Money said that buying property at cities like Swansea provides buyers the opportunity to move faster and negotiate house prices.