Its April Housing Survey suggests that buyers are hesitant about taking the plunge without knowing who will be in power after 6 May.
Despite average house prices edging up 0.2% in April, and 1.8% over the last 12 months, the rate of increase slowed slightly this month and other indicators show some worrying trends.
Supply of homes for sale, for example, continues to outstrip supply as it has done for the last three months, said Hometrack. This is a complete about-face from the end of 2009, when there was a surge of buyers keen to snap up Stamp Duty-free properties before the threshold changed.
It also noted that buyers are taking longer to commit to a purchase, with the number of viewings per sales having increased for three months in a row.
This hesitancy is already impacting on broker volumes, according to Darren Pescod, managing director of The Mortgage Broker Ltd in St. Neots, Cambridgeshire: “Volumes for April have been shocking, and the drop has come out of nowhere. Although there had been a dip in the last few months compared to Q4 2009, at least business levels were pretty consistent. In April, business seems to have disappeared.
“The Election is being blamed, but I think it is because this is the first month of decent weather this year. As an internet business, we notice a large drop in leads when the sun comes out, as people spend time outdoors.”
However, not all brokers recognise a market turning for the worse. Andy Sewell, managing director of Southend-based brokerage OFM, warns against reading too much into the statistics. “It is dangerous to make any knee-jerk reactions to the latest figures. In the last two quarters, we have seen some significant changes on a month-to-month basis, although the overall trend has allowed for modest positivity.
“The picture is very different when broken down regionally and in the South East the mood is good. As in Hometrack’s figures, there is still rising activity in our region, and although I agree that there is a current air of caution before the General Election, I expect to see a positive and steady increase in business over the next few months.”