House prices remain flat a year after Brexit - Rightmove

Newly-marketed property prices edged up 0.1% in June, which was stronger than the previous month’s fall of 0.4%, and is a solid performance as the start of the summer holiday season generally has a dampening effect on both prices and activity, Rightmove said.

As the fundamentals of the housing market remain good, the online property experts said, this had led to the number of sales agreed numbers remaining almost identical to those in 2016, with many parts of the country seeing as high a proportion of properties marked as sold than at any time in the last seven years.

Supply of new homes on the market continued to be restricted, though 7.6% more sellers coming to market this month compared to this time last year, though June 2016 saw the Brexit vote hold the market back.

Cumulative sales agreed during 2017 are almost on a par with the same period in 2016, down by 0.4%, even though the first six months of last year was boosted by the rush to beat the April 2016 stamp duty deadline, the survey added.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside pointed out that sellers coming to market at this time of year "have to price more keenly as the traditionally bubblier spring selling season is over and prospective buyers are distracted by their own summer holiday plans".

He added that the market was being bolstered by solid fundamentals of low unemployment, low interest rates, strong demand and historic undersupply of homes, which reduced the effect of any wobbles in confidence; "as a result nearly half the properties on the market, over 45%, have sold signs slapped across them".

Compared to the period around the referendum a year ago, more sellers have come to market and more buyers are buying, Rightmove found, with the number of sales agreed up by 4.6% in June 2017 compared to June 2016, and the number of sellers coming to market is also up 7.6% on the same period a year ago.

The recovery in buyer activity has also meant that sales agreed year-to-date in 2017 are now virtually on a par with the same period in 2016 which was boosted by the rush to beat the April 2016 stamp duty deadline, running at just 0.4% down.

Shipside said the statistics showed that the political distractions this year and last have been short-lived and seem to have evened themselves out.

"While the number of existing owners coming to market this month is up in eight out of ten regions compared to a year ago, giving more fresh choice, it has to be kept in mind that the comparison is against a subdued new listing period in 2016 around the time of the referendum."