Following a typically slow August, where homeowners traditionally put sales on hold as they go on holiday and attempt to entertain the kids, property listings have bounced back, with 69% of UK towns and cities seeing a leap in listings. London was in particularly fine fettle with a 16.5% boost in new properties listed in September.
The East of the UK, too, saw a strong September for property supply with four out of the top 10 towns and cities for listings based in the Home Counties. Basildon in Essex jumped 68.1%, the biggest riser in the country, while new properties in Hemel Hempstead rose 52.2%.
To compile the Index, HouseSimple looks at data on more than 500,000 listed properties to track the number of new properties marketed every month in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all London boroughs.
The following table shows the UK towns and cities that experienced the biggest rises in new property listings in September versus August:
Town/City |
Region |
% rise in new listings in September vs. August |
Falmouth |
South West |
-27.5% |
Sutton Coldfield |
West Midlands |
-25.8% |
Ely |
East |
-22.9% |
Stockton on Tees |
North East |
-22.2% |
Loughborough |
Midlands |
-19.1% |
West Bromwich |
West Midlands |
-18.5% |
Runcorn |
North West |
-18.0% |
Southport |
North West |
-17.8% |
Darlington |
North East |
-17.6% |
Hull |
East Yorkshire |
-16.2% |
Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com comments: “The property market continues to defy predictions of a post-Brexit fall-out with a return to form after the summer lull. The figures don’t show an astronomical uplift in new listings after a typically slow August, but a more than 10 per cent boost in new properties is evidence of a resilience in the housing market that many didn’t expect. This certainly isn’t a ‘rabbit caught in the headlights’ moment for UK homeowners. Many clearly believe that the market is strong enough to sell in despite the ongoing political uncertainty.
Equally, with the recent interest rate cut putting a spring in the step of buyers – and a further cut on the cards – a degree of market equilibrium may be restored. What was a sellers’ market before the Referendum vote and buyers’ market in the initial months after it may now be somewhere in between. This is no bad thing.”