The number of properties being sold each month is significantly lower today than the numbers seen before the financial crisis, new analysis from online estate agents HouseSimple has revealed.
The firm used Land Registry data to rank every month since January 1995 for completed property sales, from highest to lowest. It found that March 2016 was the only month since the crisis to figure in the top 100 months, with 56,183 completed property transactions.
According to the study, the average number of properties sold in a single month between January 1995 and December 2007 averaged 43,898. However since then, that average has crashed down to just 27,023.
In fact, the three lowest months for property sales since January 1995 were the first three months of 2009, when the credit crunch really began to bite. In January 2009 just 11,740 sales were registered.
In contract, three of the top four months for transactions were found in 2002, with all three seeing sales in excess of 60,000. May 2002 saw the highest month ever for completed transactions at 61,904.
Sam Mitchell, chief executive officer of HouseSimple, said that the figures show the global financial crisis has had a lasting impact on the property market in the UK, noting that while monthly numbers have recovered since the lows of 2009, they are still significantly below pre-crisis levels.
He continued: “It is worth bearing in mind that leading up to the financial crisis in 2008, we were seeing a country-wide, and unsustainable buying frenzy. Since the crash, and post-2009 when pretty much every UK town and city saw property transactions hit rock bottom, you could say that many regional property markets have been operating at a level that is more sustainable.
“London is the major exception, as the reaction to the global crash, was an influx of overseas buyers looking for a safe haven for their money, and crazy price growth. But even the London market has now slowed, and we are seeing more sensible buyer and seller activity.
“It feels like the UK housing market has entered a new era; one based on strong fundamentals not panic and an obsession with capital growth.”
