According to the data, an average of 61,651 properties were sold each month across the UK between January 2022 and June 2022 (the most recent data available), which is a 23.8% decrease from the 80,958 homes that were sold each month over the preceding six months.
The Forest of Dean was the local authority area most impacted by the drop in sales, with just 71 homes sold on average per month in the most recent six-month period available, down 43.1% from the previous six months, when 125 transactions were completed on average each month.
In addition to Melton (-42.4%), Wyre (-41.1%), West Oxfordshire (-40.5%), Newcastle (-40.2%), and Hambleton (-40%), the top ten local authority areas most affected by the reduction included Copeland (-39.6%), East Lindsey (-38.9%), Boston (-38.5%), and Herefordshire (-38.4%).
"This decline is only going to deepen moving forward, as the increasing cost of acquiring a mortgage continues to climb to some of the highest levels seen in years”, said Chris Hodgkinson, managing director of HBB. He added, "sellers will start to discover that they can't expect to secure the same price as they would have during the dizzying heights of the epidemic market bubble as more buyers become discouraged from entering the market.”
House values will undoubtedly begin to plummet when the pendulum swings, and it won't be long before this decline becomes apparent.