Intermediary only lender MPowered Mortgages have released figures this morning that surprisingly show that still, even in the face of economic uncertainty, the property market is still flourishing! They have revealed that from their research, 1/3 of property offers on purchases are received by the vendor within an hour of viewing the property. But does this just highlight the shortage of properties we are currently experiencing in the UK?
What The Figures Show About Property Offers
In their newly released ‘House Pace Index’ report, MPowered revealed that 1 in 3 properties received an offer within one hour of viewing in 2022, or around 31%. This is a huge increase to previous years. In 2018 for example, this figure was only at around 7%. The report also goes on to say that 48% of properties in 2022 received an offer in a day, up from 26% in 2018. They continue further by revealing that 1 in 7 homes for sale in London receive property offers without the buyer actually seeing the property in question, highlighting the desperate scramble for property in the capital, even in economic difficulties. Thats around 14% of purchases, up from 7% in 2018.
Some more interesting and noteworthy figures from the report are:
- 60% of 18-34-year-olds place offers within roughly 24 hours
- 40% of people make an offer after viewing only two properties
But, MPowered have noted that not all of these desperate property offers actually go through in the end, and it seems that a lot of people are just blindly bidding with an unrealistic hope of getting property in a chaotic market. The report also shows:
- 22% of properties go to sealed bids
- 32% of buyers offers are trumped by higher offers
- 29% of sellers expect a higher offer from a buyer who is in a chain
- 1 in 10 sellers wait to get five or more offers before agreeing on a sale.
The report finally reveals that 50% or half of don’t actually lead to a sale, which to us is a staggering number. This is normally due to higher offers being submitted as we have mentioned above, issues with the property valuation, or a break in a chain somewhere along the line.
What Have MPowered Said Specifically About The Data?
CEO of MPowered Mortgages Stuart Cheetham has commented:
“An astronomical change in how homebuyers approach buying a home compounds the necessity for other aspects within the house buying process to change dramatically. Buyers and sellers are moving with a sense of urgency to secure a home, only to be let down by external factors. With half of all offers falling through, we must address the disconnect between consumer behaviours and the speed and certainty in our industry.”
Distribution director at MPowered Emma Hollingworth also added:
“Buyers and sellers are acting in unprecedented ways to secure a move. This urgency seems to be becoming the norm rather than symptomatic of the pandemic. The data shows a desperate need to provide certainty and stability throughout the chain, whilst also acting at pace to keep up with consumer requirements.”
If you or anyone you know is thinking of putting an offer in on a property soon but aren’t sure on their affordability or borrowing capacity, please give our advisors a call today to see how we can help.
