Figures showed that the number of residential house sales agreed in the UK in November fell by 5.8% compared to a 4% rise in October, while sales were down just 1.4% on November 2009.
Yet, the drop was modest by comparison to previous years, when November saw monthly house sales fall 20.5% in 2007, 23.9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009.
However, the number of new for sale signs that went up in November was down 12.6%, the third consecutive monthly fall.
Stephen Watson, managing director of Agency Express, said: “Whilst there has been an expected downturn in the number of properties sold this month, it wasn’t as severe as we anticipated. Normally, we see activity tailing off in the run up to Christmas but the latest index results indicate that people appear less perturbed by the onset of the festive period.”
He added: “The fall in house prices recorded over the last few months, seems to have left those who are serious house sellers and buyers stuck in the market, whilst people who put their houses on the market earlier in the year have now decided to stay put.”
Only three regions in the UK reported an increase in house sales for November. The South East saw a jump of 19.6%, while sales were up 10.9% in the West Midlands and 4.9% in Wales.
The regions that experienced the biggest fall in house sales were the North East, down 20.0%, the North West, down 17.0%, and Yorkshire, down 11.5%.
Nine cities saw positive growth in house sales in November, with Southampton seeing a massive 72.7% increase, followed by Brighton and Coventry which both had a 25% rise.
Other cities to see a rise included Exeter, Manchester, Colchester, Cardiff, Birmingham and Norwich.
Most regions had double digit falls in the number of new properties being put on the market, although Wales only recorded a small drop of 1.9%. Yorkshire and Central England were the only two other regions with single digit falls of 6.7% and 9.2%.
Southampton saw the biggest growth in listings, up 64.3%, whereas Carlisle had the worst month of all UK cities, with a fall of 35.1%.
