A backward step was seen within the housing and mortgages market throughout June, with a decrease in new house sales and decrease in houses put up for sale.
This evidence provided by the Agency Express Property Activity Index is worrying news for the mortgage broker and the mortgage industry as a whole.
June 2011 saw a 13.7% fall in houses sold within the UK compared to May 2011 – yet also worryingly saw 16.9% fall from figures shown in May 2009. The number of houses that were put up for sale within the UK fell by 10.2% in May, though more positively were still up 32% from the dark days of May 2009.
However, despite the fall in demand for purchasing property and advertising property on the market, June has always been a historically quiet time for the property sector in the UK. In five of the last six years the month of June has seen a double digit fall in demand for property for a variety of reasons and this year should be looked at differently. The mortgage market as a whole and the mortgage broker industry has improved substantially in the last year and mortgage lenders for the first time in a long time appear willing and able to lend to individuals.
In particular, the North West of the UK had a great month in property sales. A 26.3% increase from May in the number of properties sold and mortgages approved could be the long needed kick start that the regional property market has needed. A 17.7% increase in property sales in Scotland is also likely to boost the local economy, with more and more individuals seeing their financial situation improve.
There is plenty of ground for optimism for the mortgage broker and within the wider mortgage market. The start of the Government’s new shared equity First Buy scheme is likely to heavily boost the new build mortgage market as well as increase prospects for first time buyers. Furthermore, there has been a large increase in the number of properties coming on to the market within the London area in June. Changes in the London property market tend to have a ripple effect throughout the rest of the UK, the property market is bound to pick up again.
