Applicants rise to four year high, but sales stay grounded

Applicant levels have reached a four-year high after increasing for a second consecutive month in September, the latest NAEA housing report claimed today, but the number of sales has stalled.

The average number of home hunters per agency branch rose from 304 in August to 308 in September – the highest level since September 2007 when the figure was 326. The number of houses available for sale also increased, from 65 per branch to 72, between August and September. The amount of stock listed per branch was the highest for three months.

The number of sales remained static, however, at eight per branch each month, the report says. Other NAEA figures show that the percentage of sales to first-time buyers increased from 20% in August to 22% in September, but with regional variations.

Wendy Evans-Scott, president of the NAEA, said: “It is encouraging to see that the number of inquiries is increasing, but sellers need to be very realistic when pricing their property in order to secure a sale in what is still a very cautious market.”

Agents contributing to the NAEA report give very varying accounts of the market.

In East Anglia, Hayley Brown called for a return to 90% mortgages and a revised stamp duty structure, and said chains were not coming together quickly.

In the South-East, Richard Turrell said his region continued “to endure a very slow level of activity” with a limited number of sales being completed and a lack of first-time buyers. In the North, Alison Ibster said the market was “fairly stagnant”, but in the West Country, Richard Copus said both instructions and sales increased –not to any great degree, but enough to indicate slow-growing confidence in residential property despite trouble in the financial markets.