He said: “The first half of the year has seen many properties going to best and final offers, often achieving considerably more than their asking price due to the level of buyer demand. Yorkshire is still significantly cheaper than the South East and this is driving prices upwards.
“We expect to see a busy autumn due to the lack of properties available, and the continued interest from London and the South East, despite interest rates continuing to rise from their historic lows.”
Responding to the figures, Propertymark’s CEO, Nathan Emerson said he expects to see house prices remain high in the short term because of the imbalance between buyer demand and housing stock but he expects it to cool by year end.
“The property market will undoubtedly still see the gradual impact of the increases to the cost of living and interest rate rises which play a key factor in affordability. This should start to bring activity to a more even keel towards the end of the year,” Emerson said.
Likewise, Santander’s chief economist Frances Haque said earlier this month she expects to see growth slow to 2 per cent by year end and “zero growth” going into the new year.
However she said this depends in part on what happens with bank rates.
jane.matthews@ft.com
