This year, the housing market has experienced a flurry of positive activity, leading to a better-than-expected performance.
According to Nationwide, activity has been stable in recent months, and the number of mortgages approved for house price purchases stands at around 60,000 per month. While this is approximately 10% below pre-pandemic levels, Nationwide calls it a ‘respectable pace given the higher interest rate environment’.
According to other house price indexes with access to more activity data, such as Zoopla’s, there are positive signs of increased activity. This includes more sellers listing homes and more agreed-upon sales. Buyers are also paying a larger proportion of the asking price on average as market confidence improves.