Homeowners stay put amid economic fears

Uncertainty caused by last month's surprise election result has scared homeowners out of selling their properties.

The number of new listings fell 1.9% in June from the previous month, according to the latest Property Supply Index from online estate agent HouseSimple.com.

See also: The 20 things that will sell your home - even when the market is dead

See also: The hardest places to sell your home in the UK

The company reckons that homeowners are spooked by the way Theresa May's decision to call a snap general election backfired so spectacularly - and that this, combined with Brexit fears, is leading them to stick rather than sell.

"The property market was hoping for a downpour of new stock in June, but the Conservatives crawling over the line failed to deliver the injection of confidence the market needed, and put paid to any chance of a late spring bounce," says HouseSimple.com CEO Alex Gosling.

"Price growth has stalled, and sellers, it appears, are choosing to stay put, rather than accept marketing their properties at a lower price then they might have done a few months ago."

Of the 100 towns and cities that HouseSimple.com analysed, 81 saw property supply fall in June compared to May. Dundee and Barnsley registered the biggest drop-offs in property supply, down 48.1% and 39.3% last month.

London, though, bucked the trend, with property supply up 5.3% across the boroughs. Sutton stood out with new property listings in June up by 54.1% compared to May.

Lichfield and Hartlepool were the only other areas to register big gains, of 20.6% and 18.7% respectively.

Gosling believes that sellers may be being unwise by holding off from selling, and that if they're hoping for prices to go up again, that could be a long wait.

"If anything, homeowners should see this as a good climate to sell as long as they price correctly," he says.

"If prices have dropped where they live, they are likely to have dropped, possibly by even more, in the area they're planning to buy."

The biggest falls in new listings

Dundee, Scotland: -48.1%
Barnsley, South Yorkshire: -39.3%
Sunderland, North East: -25.2%
Torquay, South West: -25.1%
Hereford, West Midlands: -24.5%
Slough, South East: -23.8%
Hemel Hempstead, East: -22.1%
Bolton, North West: -21.5%
Ipswich, East: -21.1%
Rotherham, South Yorkshire: -20.6%

The biggest increases in new listings

Lichfield, West Midlands: 20.6%
Hartlepool, North East: 18.7%
Peterborough, East: 17.2%
Cambridge, East: 16.4%
Southampton, South East: 13.4%
Hull, East Yorkshire: 12.9%
Gateshead, North East: 12.3%
Aberdeen, Scotland: 12.1%
Warwick, West Midlands: 11.9%
Oldham, North West: 11.6%