Despite continued appetite to move from both buyers and sellers, the cost-of-living crisis had a marked impact on the market as planned home-moves were put on pause in response to soaring interest rates and reduced mortgage options, according to new research from Landmark.
Landmark Information Group’s latest market data shows how buyer concerns over affordability filtered through the transaction pipeline into Q4, as a combination of inflation and mortgage availability impacted planned home-moves.
Landmark’s newly released Q4 Property Trends report analyses property data for the year up until Q4 2022 across the entire residential property transaction chain, representing the most comprehensive cross-market analysis of the property sector in England and Wales.
Simon Brown, CEO at Landmark Information Group, said: “We can clearly see that the cost-of-living crisis cannot be ignored as a key influence on the UK’s property market in 2022.
“For many home-movers, while there is still strong appetite to move, there are indications that most are waiting for the economic headwinds to calm before making any concrete decisions.
“However, while many moves are on hold, transaction times have continued to creep up, with our latest data showing it now takes 133 days on average to complete a home move.
“This highlights how the UK’s home-moving process is still in dire need of modernisation to make sure it works for movers and industry alike.”
Landmark’s data shows that the number of mortgage valuations fell sharply from September onwards as mortgage products were pulled from the market in response to Autumn’s fiscal event – hampering movers’ ability to progress with transactions.
Similarly, the data points to subdued SSTC and search levels throughout Q4 – both down 35% in December vs December 2019 as consumers waited for mortgage rates to stabilise.
Whilst the start of Q4 indicated strong supply, with listings hovering at or slightly below 2019 levels, the lack of sales eventually began to have an impact in December as home buyers waited for 2023 to bring more economic stability.
