House hunters may have a better chance right now of finding their dream home, with the average number of properties available for sale per branch up by 11 per cent last month.
That’s the greatest percentage increase in almost three years, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).
The group’s July Housing Market Report shows that the average number of properties available for sale per branch increased from 46 properties last month to 51 in July, the highest number of available properties since November 2013.
At the same time, competition among house buyers could be easing. The average number of house hunters registered per branch shrank from 371 in June to 368 in July, and has been declining month-on-month since April 2014.
However, the number of registered house hunters still remains significantly higher than the same time last year (July 2013), when only 250 house hunters per branch were counted.
July house buyers were also the winners when it came to agreed sale prices, with a whopping two-thirds (66 per cent) of homes sold for less than the asking price, a sharp contrast to May when only 46 per cent of properties sold for less than the asking price.
Furthermore, only four per cent of homes were sold above the asking price in July, compared to 19 per cent in May.
