Warning house prices are about to crash as buyers run scared

There were 720,540 houses on the market across England in the second quarter of 2023, research by property purchasing specialist House Buyer Bureau has found.

This time last year this figure came in at 660,513, meaning the sales stock has increased by nine percent.

The price of a typical home shot up just under ten percent in 2022 – or £26,000 in cash terms – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). As the cost-of-living crisis worsened, fewer and fewer people found themselves able to get on or move up the ladder.

In 2023, with inflation remaining persistently high, the Bank of England has raised the UK interest rate 13 times consecutively to hit five percent, with more expected to come.

The cost of mortgages has been pushed up in turn, with two-year fixed rates on course to fly past six percent. As home loans slip out of reach, ever more properties are going unsold.

This situation varies significantly depending on the county, however. Nowhere has seen a bigger percentage increase than the Isle of Wight.

The number of homes on sale there between April and June was 27 percent higher than it was last year. The average house was worth £379,765 over the past year, and is still going up in price in defiance of the national trend.

The island off the coast of Hampshire was followed by Shropshire (25 percent), Herefordshire (24 percent) and Cornwall (24 percent).

In just three counties or areas did the sales stock decrease, according to House Buyer Bureau’s data: Bristol (21 percent), Greater London (three percent) and Berkshire (one percent).

Explore the situation in your area using our interactive map below.

Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, Chris Hodgkinson, commented: “With the exception of Bristol, every county in England has seen the level of available for sale stock climb since the start of the year and this demonstrates the altogether different landscape sellers are facing when compared to 2022.”

Between January and June this year alone, the number of houses on the market shot up by 15 percent.

Mr Hodgkinson added: “Buyers are acting with far less enthusiasm and, as a result, homes are taking longer to sell, or attracting little to no attention whatsoever. This has inevitably led to an oversaturation of for sale stock and this will naturally cause a further reduction in property values as the bidding wars of the pandemic boom fade into memory. 

“So while this may be good news for the nation’s buyers, those looking to sell are facing a far tougher challenge. Many are unwilling to adjust their price expectations, but this is the reality they face if they want to sell their home quickly and before any further dent to property values materialises.”