Rightmove says new seller asking prices are now 0.1% below this time last year following several months of muted price growth.
And in its latest market snapshot, out today, it warns: “Jitters around what could happen in the Autumn Budget risk slowing the parts of the market that are already underperforming.”
In particular it warns: “In London, more than half (59%) of agreed property sales so far this year have been over £500,000 and would be subject to the speculated new tax replacing stamp duty, versus an average of 22% outside London.
“Furthermore, more than one in ten homes (11%) in London are priced at £1.5 million pounds or more and would be subject to the rumoured mansion tax, versus an average of just 2% outside the capital.”
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, says: “Rumours of property tax changes began swirling in mid-August, and with the Budget itself not arriving until the end of November, this kind of extended uncertainty can affect market activity, especially in the higher price brackets.
“Movers want to be confident in planning their moving costs.
“Our real-time data has not yet picked up any major shifts, however it’s understandable that those who could be negatively affected by the rumoured changes might be in the process of reassessing their short- and medium-term plans.
“Our analysis highlights how London and south England-centric the changes would be, and these are the areas that are already performing less strongly.”
Rightmove is also one of many organisations anticipating that this week’s Bank of England interest rate announcement is likely to be ‘hold’ instead of the hoped-for cut.
Matt Smith, Rightmove’s mortgage expert, comments: “Mortgage rates have edged upwards over the last few weeks as global events have made mortgage financing a little more expensive.
“Inflation is also proving sticky, and as we saw in the commentary from the Bank of England at the last rate decision, there is some uncertainty from the Bank about the future road of rate cuts.
“Like in the housing market, we often see a bounce in lender activity in September after the summer holidays so we can expect lenders to remain as competitive as possible to secure business.
“The rhetoric around mortgages continues to be about how lenders can unlock greater affordability by allowing people to responsibly borrow more, which is encouraging for the market, particularly first-time buyers.”
This article is taken from Landlord Today