July performance rewrites the property rulebook

The performance of the property industry during the month of July has seen the rulebook rewritten.

In what is traditionally a quiet period for housing market activity due to summer holidays has instead turned into a post-lockdown mini-boom as house moving takes centre stage.

Leading property portal Rightmove says that July saw the highest number of sales agreed in a month since it started tracking this data over 10 years ago, up 20 per cent on the previous high, and with a record total value of over £37 billion.

Meanwhile Rightmove also recorded the highest number of properties coming to market in a single month since March 2008.

The mini-boom saw an unseasonal record high in new seller asking prices in seven regions across the UK. This excludes London which suffered a more seasonal two per cent drop.

Ben Furnell, Managing Director of Furnell Residential, said: "These figures very much mirror our own findings and we expect this trend to continue in the short to medium term as buyers look to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday.

"Of course the longer term impact of the pandemic is yet to be fully felt in terms of things like job loses so there may well be challenging times further down the line.

"However with the current appetite for people looking to move it is an excellent time for sellers to put their house on the market."