Land Registry data registered a 25.4% increase in sales of new build property during June, while the sale of freehold property declined.
Of the 81,742 sales received for registration in June 2019:
- 62,331 were freehold, a 3% decrease on June 2018;
- 10,952 were newly built, a 25.4% increase on June 2018;
- The most expensive property sold was in Kensington and Chelsea for £25,975,000;
- The cheapest properties sold were in Burnley, Bishop Auckland, Ferryhill and Sunderland for £20,000.
According to the LSL Land & New Homes Index, in the year to end June 2019 new build prices per square metre rose by an average of 4.35% across the UK.
According to the recently published LSL Land & New Homes New Build Market Review 2006 to December 2018, in value terms the new build market has roughly doubled between the months of December 2007 and December 2017. The report showed that many regions have seen steady growth in transaction volumes in recent years with London being the exception, where volumes have fallen over the past few years.
“Over the past month, at least two of the leading housebuilders have given trading updates indicating their output and profitability figures are broadly in line with last year,” the index said. “Not withstanding negative news from some sources, the overall volume of house sales is staying roughy steady and new build is at least maintaining its share of that market.”
Meanwhile, NAEA Propertymark issued its June Housing Report which indicated that demand is defying market uncertainty.
The number of house hunters registered per estate agent branch fell slightly in June, from 307 to 305, despite this, the number of prospective buyers remains high for the year
Year-on-year, housing demand is almost aligned, with just a one per cent difference from June 2018 when there was an average of 308 house hunters per branch.
Mark Hayward, Chief Executive, NAEA Propertymark said: “Although we’ve seen a slight drop in supply and demand, the housing market is still stronger than expected, showing signs of resilience amid political uncertainty. The warmer months can often result in the market quietening down, but we’re not yet experiencing this just yet as demand remains high for the year.
“We’ll need to see if this trend continues over the next few months before we can conclusively say that confidence in the market has returned.”
