A good turn out in the General Election will result in a cooling of the property market, however if the Conservatives have a high number of votes, increased activity in the housing market will follow according to Your Move.

It has analysed the number of property transactions completed during periods containing a general election, going back to 1979 and discovered this phenomena.

David Newnes, managing director, Your Move, said: “Important general elections with massive turnouts tend to mean a decline in housing transactions. The more seriously the electorate takes an election the larger the scale of the disruption to the property market with tens of thousands of potential homebuyers or sellers distracted by the political process or waiting until it is over before entering the market. If the bookies are right and we see a high turnout in May, we will see a large dip in housing market activity.”

For example in 1987 there was a 75.3% turnout at the elections but transactions fell -3.4% over the three months of the election period compared to the three months before and in 1992, there was an even bigger turnout of 77.7% and transactions fell -2.4%, however in 2005 there was only a 61.4% turnout at the election which saw a +5% increase in transactions.

In 1979 the Conservative party received 13,697,923 votes, compared to 11,457,079 in October 1974 and in the three months after the election, there was an +8.6% increase in activity.

Newnes said: “Even if there’s a huge turnout and the number of property transactions falls as a result, it’s not all bad news for the housing market. If the Conservative party increases its vote, the housing market should heat up in the three months following the election.

“The increasing uncertainty of a Conservative victory is therefore potentially very bad news for the housing market. If the Tories do well in May or sooner, the bounce back should be even more pronounced than usual. With the abolition of HIPs on the agenda, as well as the promise to increase the stamp duty threshold to £250,000, many potential buyers and sellers are waiting to see if the Tories get into power.”