While a holiday seasonal slowdown is not unusual at this time of year, the dip is slightly greater than the seasonal average price fall of 0.4%.
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The latest monthly snapshot of asking prices, based on properties newly listed on Rightmove’s website, shows that there were decreases in all parts of England and Wales. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, this July’s fall is marginally larger, as political turbulence has a track record of unsettling sentiment”, Rightmove Director Miles Shipside said. In the borough of Richmond, the average price plunged by more than 10 percent as sellers slashed asking prices post-referendum.
Mark Manning, the director of Manning Stainton estate agents in Leeds, said: “The political soap opera that has played out following the historic vote to leave the European Union, combined with the obvious economic uncertainty should have, for all intents and purposes, spawned a significant adjustment in the market”.
“As far as the price of property coming to market is concerned, the fall of 0.9% is within the range that we have seen at this time of year since 2010”.
In the run-up to the referendum a study by the Treasury found that a Brexit vote could send house prices plummeting by up to 18%.
Rightmove said that in the two weeks following the referendum vote, enquiries from buyers to estate agents were down by 16% compared with the same period in 2015.
A lack of supply helps to keep house prices up. Compared to the same period past year, the two weeks before the Brexit vote saw the number of properties coming to market down by 8%, though the two weeks afterwards have now seen the levels up by 6%. In the weeks since, estate agents have reported some sales falling through, and some buyers seeking to renegotiate prices down.
Average prices in London fell 1.2% to £635,710.
“While we have seen a small number of buyers attempting to renegotiate the price they are paying for a property, these requests have nearly all been rejected and the sale has progressed as planned, showing that Brexit has had little impact on buyers and sellers, and their desire to move”, he said.
“Agents in areas where stock shortages were driving momentum before the referendum say activity has recovered quickly, with buyers’ fear of losing a scarce property a key factor”.
Last week, data by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors pointed to sharp falls in both house sellers and buyers.
He says: ‘There has been a lot of noise about Brexit’s possible effect on the property market, but in fact nothing dramatic has happened over the last few weeks and it’s very much business as usual for anyone looking to buy or sell a property at the moment.
Other recent data has painted a much more sombre picture. This is the sharpest fall Rics has ever recorded since first asking this question in 1998.
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Last Thursday, the Bank of England voted to keep United Kingdom interest rates on hold at 0.5 per cent.
