People have been too busy to hunt for houses, says LSL

While sectors such as retail saw a boost from the warm weather, the feel-good factor created by Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton, and two successive long weekends, people were too busy to go house hunting.

Figures from Halifax show that house prices fell by 1.4 per cent during April as potential buyers stayed away from the market, while Nationwide reported a smaller 0.2 per cent decline.

York-based LSL, the UK’s second largest estate agency group, said that while activity levels in April were disappointing, May has seen a return to more normal levels.

LSL, which operates from the Your Move and Reed Rains brands, said the housing market weakened during the first quarter of 2011, as potential buyers continued to face problems getting a mortgage. Despite this challenging backdrop, it said trading had been in line with expectations.

Turnover at its estate agency business grew by 11 per cent year-on-year during the three months to the end of March and by seven per cent during the four months to April.

It said its estate agency arm had increased its market share during the first part of the year, while it had also seen good growth in income from lettings and financial services, particularly from the former Halifax estate agency branches, which it acquired in January last year.

It added that its ‘The Bridge’ call centre initiative had helped it to grow market share. The call centre contacts people who have expressed an interest in selling their property, to try to persuade them to use the group’s estate agents or other services, such as surveyors or financial services.

But LSL’s surveying arm, which carries out mortgage valuations for lenders, didn’t perform as well, with turnover dropping by five per cent during the four months to April.

The group said there had been low levels of mortgage activity. Remortgage volumes picked up during the first quarter on expectations that interest rates would rise soon, but levels have since fallen back again.

LSL said its private survey services, which inspect properties for buyers, are continuing to grow amid positive customer feedback.

LSL’s chief executive Simon Embley said: “Even without recovery of market transaction volumes the group is well placed to increase shareholder value through major organic growth initiatives and use of the strong balance sheet to make further value accretive acquisitions.”