A fall in property supply during April bucked the usual seasonal trend as the cold weather and political uncertainty deterred sellers.
Supply fell by 4 per cent on the previous month’s figure at a time when the market is normally beginning to pick up, according to the latest UK Property Supply Index from HouseSimple.com.
As well as the unusual cold spell, the triggering of Article 50 and the calling of a general election are thought to lie behind the downturn.
The index is based on data from more than 500,000 listed properties in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all London boroughs.
Alex Gosling, chief executive of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, said: “The property market doesn’t like uncertainty and triggering Article 50 and announcing a snap general election shortly after is a huge amount of uncertainty for sellers to digest.
“The good news for the property market is that this election doesn’t appear to be a close-run affair so it’s likely that any negative impact on the property market will be short-lived.”
The biggest falls were witnessed in Runcorn (-33.9 per cent), Doncaster (-31.1 per cent) and Woking (-28.6 per cent), while areas such as Newquay (69 per cent), Oldham (42.4 per cent) and Nuneaton (39.3 per cent) experienced a usual seasonal uptick in supply.
In London, supply rose by just 1.5 per cent, with gains of more than 50 per cent in Lewisham, Ealing, Hounslow and Wandsworth, and significant falls in Haringey, Sutton and Barking and Dagenham.
Rebecca Robertson, director and financial planner at Chatham-based Evolution for Women, commented: “There do not seem to be many properties out there. I think it is a really slow market and a lot of people are hanging off making firm decisions at the moment.
“We recently posted an article on Facebook about estate agents in London offering free cars and iPads just to get people coming in.”
simon.allin@ft.com
