Looking at the UK Housing market, October has seen small declines in both the number properties coming to the market “For Sale” as well as property becoming “SSTC”. Though, this is not as bad as it sounds as we’re still seeing around 30% more properties coming on to the market than in the same weeks in 2019 and around 50% more of these properties are becoming SSTC each week.
The below table shows the weekly number of For Sale properties, week on week change and comparing it to the same week in 2019:
And this one shows the SSTC’s in the same format:
Now all the red drops in volumes in the past few weeks may look bad, but when you compare it in a graph you’ll see the difference between this year and last.
Both of the 2020 lines are still well outperforming the same weeks in 2019. But, it is something to keep an eye on. Bearing in mind that it takes around 4 months on average for a property to go from SSTC to completed, you’re looking at the most recent SSTC properties completing in February/March 2021 at the earliest.
Don’t forget, home movers will be pushing as hard as they possibly can to ensure that they don’t have to pay stamp duty on their purchases come 1st April next year. So I would still imagine home mover activity to be busy for the next 5 months and longer into April for the unlucky ones who couldn’t get their purchase to completion in time.
Source: TwentcyCi
