Record numbers register with estate agents
Estate Agents - 08/08/2006 16:04:26
More than one and a half million potential property buyers registered with estate agents during July, leading some experts to believe that house prices would continue to rise.
Many experts had predicted that the recent interest rate increase would cause a cooling in the property market, but research by Your Move estate agents shows that buyers are flooding the market.
But the study also found that there are far more buyers than properties available on the market, with estate agents only having 600,000 on their books.
And according to estate agents who carried out the survey, the fact that supply is not meeting demand is likely to push property prices even higher.
David Newnes, managing director of Your Move estate agents, said: "While the number of active buyers has reached a record high, a reluctance to put their own properties onto the market has resulted in an acute shortage of supply.
"With too many buyers chasing too few sellers, the pressure for property prices to rise further will only intensify."
Mr Newnes noted that the situation had arisen as buyers were becoming increasingly unwilling to put their properties on sale until they had secured a new home.
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