Revealing the residential Property Trends in Q4 2022

The Q4 2022 GB residential edition of Landmark’s Property Trends Report is now live. This cross-market activity report offers the latest data and analysis on residential transactions during October, November and December 2022.

A market on hold
A combination of the fiscal event in September 2022 and other preceding market conditions cast a shadow in Q4 22. Our data shows a market on hold as movers wait for the New Year to take action.

Listing volumes in Q4 remained at just 6% below 2019 levels in England and Wales and 4% below in Scotland. Moreover, those home movers who had financial flexibility and were committed to moving in the first half of 2023 were able to complete, with Q4 completion volumes remaining steady with that of Q3 2022. This is good news, though to maintain a stable market, pipelines will need to be replenished in Q1 and Q2 of 2023.
SSTC and search volumes were subdued however, likely due to the combined impact of affordability, inflation, and interest rates.
For the transaction pipeline overall, the industry’s fragmented processes are still taking their toll. In fact, we can see that transaction times are still creeping up with it now taking 133 days on average to move home.

Heading into 2023 with confidence
It was expected that Q4 data would reflect the lingering impact of the cost-of-living crisis and September’s fiscal event. The response from the financial markets was immediate. However, many of the lenders are now testing the market with new mortgage offers released at the start of this year. We anticipate a different picture again when it is time to analyse the full Q1 of 2023.
Indeed, with a general election 12 to 18 months away, we are not expecting bold changes in fiscal policy over the next year and markets will take heart from a period of relative stability.
Landmark CEO Simon Brown commented, “What the data shows us, is that the pipeline is active, listing levels are strong and existing transactions are still flowing towards completion. That paints an encouraging picture for home-movers in 2023. Everything is set ‘ready to go’ when mortgage rates stabilise”.
Access the full Cross-Market Activity edition of Landmark’s Q4 2022 Residential Property Trends report here.