While this was a monthly increase in stock, it was the lowest availability for the month of July ever with the previous low recorded in 2017 when there were 35 houses available to buy per branch.
Buyer demand saw a minor uptick to 428, up from 426 in June. This figure was flat on the same period last year.
This means there was an average of 15 buyers per available property in July.
The number of sales agreed dipped from 11 to 10 in July. Annually, this was lower than last July’s figure of 13 sales agreed per branch on average.
The number of sales made to first-time buyers also contracted in July, accounting for 20 per cent of completions. This was down from June’s figure of 27 per cent.
Despite the slight slowdown in activity, a third of properties sold for more than their asking price in July.
While this was a fall from the 40 per cent of properties which went for more than their asking price in June, it was closer in line with last May’s proportion of 33 per cent.
The 31 per cent of homes which sold for more than their asking price in July was also the highest on record for the month, beating the previous record of eight per cent last year.
Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, said: “This month’s slight rebalance of the market is welcome news and a much-needed step in the right direction, with supply of property beginning to increase and the number of homes selling for over the asking price starting to even out.
“Now that the stamp duty holiday is close to its final phased out end, we expect this trend to continue in the coming months as people and spending habits return to normality post-Covid.”
