2023 A year in Reflection
As a rather turbulent year for the UK property market draws to a close we thought we'd share with you some of our reflections on the year.
The year past
The impact of the economic fallout of the Liz Truss premiership and the 2022 autumn statement, with its subsequent impact on the economy, inflation, interest rates, and mortgage availability had a notably adverse effect upon property market volumes over the winter and early spring months of 2023.
Year on year, searches on Google for surveys and surveyors was down by over 50% for the period September 2022 to February 2023. Some of this drop can probably be attributed to an already downward trend in market volumes from the somewhat overheated market of 2021, but there is little doubt the economic uncertainty played a major part in the slowdown of activity in the housing market.
March to May saw some recovery as the economic conditions started to stabilise, but search volumes remained around 30% lower than 2022. Mid summer, June through to August, continued to see some recovery, albeit with market activity still down by around 20%. However, during the autumn, the market slowed again, back to levels around 30% less than 2022, with October being particularly badly affected, reflecting the record low levels of new mortgage approvals granted in July and August.
The year ahead
Looking forward to 2024, there do appear to be some green shoots appearing. With inflation seemingly under a bit more control, with less resulting pressure on mortgage rates, and property prices stabilising, the general sentiment appears to be that market volumes should recover somewhat as a bit more confidence returns, although the prospect of a general election, and the global political picture are likely to prevent any dramatic bounceback effect.
Survey fees over 2023
Given the difficult market conditions over the year, we are pleased to report that reduced demand has not unduly impacted on quoted survey fees. We have just completed our annual fee review in order to ensure our default pricing matrix remains in line with the fees being quoted through the site. This shows that, in general, average fees have held fairly steady and even increased slightly (by about 3%) in the mid-sized / mid-price ranged property (3 bed £200-£600K), with slightly larger increases in smaller 1-2 bed and larger 4-5 bed / higher value properties.
We try to keep our default pricing matrix in line with the average fees being quoted to help surveyors new to the site to find their feet fees-wise, and consequently our default pricing has been updated to reflect the 2023 market pricing.
As always, we stress you are completely free to set your own fee levels - our default matrix reflects the national average fee, and our Average Fee tool available from the Reports and Tools section of your dashboard can help you with guidance on regional or local fee levels.
This site is secured by SSL (https) so you can be sure your information is secure and cannot be intercepted. Click the padlock in your browser address bar for the certificate details. 
Get Instant Survey Quotes Now! »