It highlighted that June house sales have fallen five out of the past six years.
There were significant regional differences across the UK, with four regions recording increases in sales. The North West and Scotland saw the biggest increases in house sales in June, of 26.3% and 17.7% respectively.
However, house sales declined by 18.8% in the South East, 15.9% in Greater London 14.9% in Yorkshire and 14.8% in the South West.
Leicester was the UK city that had the greatest increase in monthly house sales in June with a rise of 55.0%.
Across the UK, the number of houses that were put up for sale in June went down by 10.2% compared to May, a 17% fall year-on-year, but 32.8% up on June 2009.
Again, new listings varied widely across different regions.
Scotland saw a 3.9% increase and Greater London was up 3.4%. However, the North East saw a fall of 24.4%, with Yorkshire down 19.2%.
Coventry was the UK city that had the biggest increase in the number of houses put up for sale in June, with a rise of 28%.
Stephen Watson, managing director at Agency Express, said: “Whilst it’s disappointing to report that housing activity as a whole has seen a significant drop in activity in June, there is positive news for the regional markets that have suffered in the last 12 months such as Scotland, Wales, the North West and the West Midlands.
“We could be seeing a reaction to the government’s austerity measures as they start to impact on public sector workers. A dip in consumer confidence based on uncertainties about employment and wages will cause many to put their house moving plans on hold.”
Watson added that the housing market could see improvement following the launch of the government’s FirstBuy Direct Scheme.
“This could kick start the sales of some new build homes on developments up and down the country. There is also encouragement from the fact that there was an increase in properties coming onto the market in Greater London in June. Activity in London often has a ripple effect in the following months throughout the rest of the country.”
