A BRADFORD estate agent says the city’s housing market is struggling after a report found national demand for housing fell to a six-month low in May.

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) Propertymark’s May Housing Report found only three per cent of properties sold nationally for more than their asking price last month, which was down four percentage points from April and the lowest since October last year.

The number of homes which were sold for less than their asking price increased to 77 per cent last month, which was up five percentage points from April.

Other findings included the number of people who looked for a new home registered per estate agent branch fell by eight per cent in May, to 350, from 381 the previous month. This was attributed to potential buyers’ uncertainly over the General Election.

But demand from prospective buyers increased by 15 per cent since May last year, when 304 were registered per branch.

Khalid Mahmood, owner of Your Choice Estate Agent, based in Toller Lane, Bradford, agrees with the findings of the national report.

He said: “We feel that the market is pretty slow at the moment in Bradford.

“We are a small, independent business and it is hard for estate agents to survive in this climate.

“The Bradford market is struggling at the moment. More properties are being sold in auction, because people need to get rid of them, or they are putting their homes up for rental when they move instead.”

The NAEA’s May Housing Report also found the number of properties available to buy increased by 11 per cent last month to 40 per branch.

This is slightly higher than the figure for May 2016, when 37 properties were available to buy in each branch.

The number of sales agreed per branch rose from eight in April 2017 to ten in May, which was the same level as March.

NAEA Propertymark is a UK professional body for estate agency employees, representing members in more than 11,500 offices.

Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, said: “In May, it looks like new buyers were stalling their house search until after the election; however the number of sales agreed per branch increased.”