Property is always in high demand and consistently outpaces supply, and this has been especially true of the past two years with market activity taking a fall due to reluctant homeowners.
While the summer may not have been as lively as some had hoped, new research that looked into activity during September has shown substantial growth in sellers coming to the market.
The property supply index from House Simple looked into the number of new properties being listed by estate agents in 100 major UK towns and cities.
The latest index showed that across the UK, not only did the number of new properties listed for sale rise by 18.1% in the month of September, but when compared to the same month in 2017 it was up by 6.2%.
These figures are a welcome sign and it appears that now the summer holidays are out of the way, many homeowners seem to have turned their focus to finding a new home.
When taking a closer look at some of the figures, it was found that London saw the largest rise in new sellers with an increase in 45.5% during the month of September, reaching a 3-year peak.
Other areas throughout the country that saw considerable rises were Cambridge (36.2%), Salisbury (34.1%), Salford (33.8%), Winchester (32.5%) and Poole (31.7%) all recording growth of over 30% within the month and suggesting that market activity is greater towards the South.
There were some areas that saw a fall in supply such as Lichfield, where supply fell by 37.1% along with Lancaster and Loughborough, where supply dropped by 31.6% and 29.1% respectively.
Some experts would suggest that this sudden surge in supply indicates that homeowners are looking to wrap up a property transaction before Brexit hits, however, CEO of the company that conducted this research – Sam Mitchell – believes this isn’t the case.
“It’s not so much a case of beating the Brexit rush for the door, but more life has to go on. People will always need to move whatever is happening in the housing market and the wider economy. And there seems to be more of an acceptance now amongst sellers that they need to price more realistically to attract a buyer. This sensible and measured view is helping to push through more sales which wasn’t the case before the summer,” said Mitchell.
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