smartnewhomes.com Warns of Crisis
March 24, 2009 by Emma Sorensen
Statistics released by one of the UK’s specialist new homes property portals, smartnewhomes.co.uk, and the UK’s market leading property portal, rightmove.co.uk, reveal some complicated trends in the market.
While increased numbers of users are busy searching for homes on these portals, the number of homes listed on the market seems to be declining.
smartnewhomes.com
Last week the latest Smartnewhomes.com New Homes Index was released.
The Smartnewhomes Index shows the number of new homes coming onto the market has fallen 59% over the last year. Detached and semi detached properties have suffered the most significant declines. However the portal says demand for these kinds of “family” homes remains high, together comprising 53% of all new home searches, compared to just 39% for apartments.
Only 320 detached properties were added to the smartnewhomes.com in February 2009 compared to 1343 in the same month last year – a decrease of 76 percent. A similar percentage drop of 73 percent was seen for semi-detached houses with just 89 new listings in February 2009 compared to 334 in February 2008. And only 841 new apartments were added in February 2009 compared to 1536 in February 2008, a decrease of 45 percent.
This decline clearly means there are less new homes being added to smartnewhomes.com overall.
smartnewhomes.com is part of Trinity Mirror Digital Property, and claims to be the UK’s leading new homes website, representing 85% of all new homes for sale in England, Wales and Scotland, so the portal argues that a decrease in new homes listings should be indicative of the market at large – not simply a loss for smartnewhomes.com.
On the back of the figures, smartnewhomes.com has called for immediate Government action to avoid a long-lasting availability crisis, as the supply of new family homes dries up.
David Bexon, Managing Director of smartnewhomes.com, comments:
“While billions of pounds are being pumped into the banking system, there is a concern within the industry that the Government is neglecting a key area of the market – the supply of family housing – which will be pivotal for future recovery.”
rightmove.co.uk
The latest House Price Index report from UK market leading property portal rightmove.co.uk certainly seems to corroborate smartnewhomes.com’s findings, and shows that the trend is not restricted to new homes.
rightmove.co.uk advertises property for over 90% of all UK estate agents, so is in a unique position to identify any immediate changes in the market.
The report says:
“Unsurprisingly, the majority of prospective spring sellers are being deterred by the conditions attached to doing a deal in the current market. There is evidence of buyer appetite at around 25% below peak prices and this level of discount is likely to be a major factor preventing many aspiring sellers from coming to market. Numbers are down a dramatic 57%, with only 78,901 new sellers this month compared to 181,840 in the same month last year.”
This is the lowest number of new sellers rightmove.co.uk has measured in a March market since 2003.
Like smartnewhomes.co.uk, rightmove.co.uk registered increased interested in the market earlier this year, saying that their leads more than doubled on Monday 5 January, the first full working day of the new year, compared with the same day in 2008. This continued in January with 429,560 in the first two weeks of that month compared with 199,762 in 2008.
Despite rising web traffic and searches, the decrease in listings could mean UK portals will see a flow on effect to their bottom line, as the number of homes listings – new or not – on the UK market decreases.
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Does Rightmove REALLY still have 90% of all the agents in the UK??
Many have left due to R/M’s high costs. Many other portals have increased their agent numbers. maybe R/M’s property numbers are down for other reasons. Membership?
[...] smartnewhomes.com went so far as to issue a warning to the UK Government about a potential housing crisis. [...]