The current surplus of for-sale stock is likely to accelerate the rate at which house prices are declining across the property market, the latest data from the House Buyer Bureau (HBB) reveals.

The latest UK house price index revealed that house prices hit a brick wall in September, with the monthly rate of growth stalling at 0%.

At the same time, the level of buyers entering the market is also on the decline, with mortgage approvals falling by -3.8% in the last six months and -7.3% annually.

However, HBB analysis has revealed that the number of homes reaching the market for sale across Britain has increased, up 16% compared to six months ago. 

HBB suggests that home sellers have continued to head to market in the hopes of securing a buyer before the current market decline worsens and the value of their home drops. 

However, in doing so, they could not only contribute to a cooling market but hasten the rate at which house prices fall due to an imbalance between decreasing buyer demand and a surplus of for-sale stock. 

At a regional level, the East of England has seen the largest uplift in surplus for sale stock, with 23% more homes entering the market for sale now compared to six months ago. 

The North West and Wales have also seen increases of 21%, followed by the East and West Midlands at 18% and 16% respectively. 

For cities, there are 113% more homes being listed for sale across Leeds compared to the level seen back in July of this year, with Liverpool (31%), Nottingham (27%), Leicester (26%) and Manchester (23%) also seeing some of the largest uplifts in homes heading to market. 

HBB managing director Chris Hodgkinson comments: “We’ve seen numerous indicators that the market is running low on steam but this is yet to deter the nation’s home sellers, who have continued to flood the market to an even greater extent than six months ago when the pandemic property market boom was still in full swing.”

“Of course, many are doing so in hopes of securing a buyer before the current cool in the rate of house price growth materialises into an actual decline. However, we’ve already seen the level of buyers entering the market start to dwindle due to increasing mortgage costs and so they may find it tougher than expected to secure an offer on their home.”

“So not only are we seeing more homes listed for sale, but there’s also fewer buyers looking to purchase and when you consider these two factors together, the likelihood is that this surplus for sale stock will help accelerate a drop in house prices.”