Demand for housing drops
Demand for housing dropped by 2.2 per cent in August, according to a new survey.
The Hometrack monthly national housing survey also stated that the number of homes for sale grew by 2.4 per cent in August, higher than the monthly average.
The national monthly housing market survey is based on a monthly survey of estate agents and surveyors across all postcode districts across England and Wales. It was first published in mid 2000 and the results are based on the answers to a standard questionnaire of 11 questions.
The latest survey stated that over the last five months, the supply of housing has grown by 14 per cent, and demand fell by 2 per cent. This is driving price falls across the market, down an average 0.3 per cent in August.
Price falls were seen across 30 per cent of the country in the last month, compared to 12 per cent in July and 2.6 per cent in June. The South East and North West posted the largest monthly decline of 0.5 per cent.
Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: ‘The housing market is in the process of a modest re-pricing that is likely to run for the next 6 to 12 months.
‘The unmistakable fact is that the availability of homes for sale has improved markedly and this has reduced the support for house prices provided by the scarcity of housing for sale over 2009 and early 2010.’
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Readers' comments (6)
| 30/08/2010 7:21 pm
"The unmistakable fact is that the availability of homes for sale has improved markedly and this has reduced the support for house prices provided by the scarcity of housing for sale over 2009 and early 2010.’"
OK, great, can we all finally agree that we don't need to build any more houses then?!
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Bernard Townroe | 31/08/2010 8:19 am
No.
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Harry Lime | 31/08/2010 8:54 am
What a non story, the "demand" hasn't dropped, the "wishing to buy" has dropped, people's housing needs haven't changed, just their ability to pay, or wishes to lock themselves into a mortgage in times of economic uncertainty. Perhaps a better story would have been to say that demand in the rented sector is rising as people can't afford or don't wish to buy??
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kipzilla | 31/08/2010 11:28 am
Harry Lime | 31/08/2010 8:54 am
the "demand" hasn't dropped, the "wishing to buy" has dropped,
surely demand and wishing to buy are the same thing in this context. By all means be pedantic and query symantex but I'm sure everybody else managed to read the article in the perspective it was intended.
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Chris | 31/08/2010 11:52 am
But nobody has explained where the demand has gone.
Demand for TV sets will fall when everyone has one, until a new design is put before the consumer driven, but there has been no housing of those without housing, no massive house building achieved, so where did the demand go?
We have had an understanding of the danger of statistics put before us elsewhere, but in this case there seems to be a confusion. Less people reporting at Estate Agents and asking for available housing does not in iteself mean that there is a reduced need for housing, but simply a reduced demand for housing for sale and housing for private rent. This is no doubt a result of people recognising that there is little hope of affording either the mortgage or the high private rent costs, but those people have not ceased to exist. The demand has not reduced therefore, but its effect on the consumer market for housing has fallen.
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navidson | 31/08/2010 12:26 pm
I'm not sure that "demand" and "Wishing to buy" are the same thing. I "wish to be" my own house, but I will not commit myself or make my interest known with an estate agent until I feel that house prices are affordable.
The demand hasnt gone anywhere - People are just waiting for the crash to finally happen, and the conflicting reports from all sorts of agencies does not help the situation.
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