According to the research, there has been no significant Spring bounce in new sellers so far this year though, as the figures revealed that across 100 major UK towns and cities, 68,500 new properties were marketed by estate agents in April, compared to 67,931 in March. However, new property listings last month were 43.8% higher than in April 2017, the month after Theresa May triggered Article 50.
Across the 100 towns and cities, more than half (57%) saw a drop off in new stock being marketed in April versus March. Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, saw the biggest uplift in new property listings last month, up 98.3% on March, with Dundee (40.3%) a distant second, up 40.3%.
New supply in April was down more than 30% compared to March, in Durham (37.6%), Lichfield (34.3%) and Chichester (33.0%).
London
In London, new property listings were up slightly on the UK average, with supply rising 4.4% in March compared to February. Newham saw the most dramatic rise in listings last month, with new sellers up 45.1%.
Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, comments: “Although we haven’t seen a significant Spring bounce to date, supply has been moving in the right direction since the start of the year. And we are seeing completely different Spring conditions to last year, when Article 50 disrupted the market, and sellers stalled on listing their properties until they had a clearer economic picture.
Now that the weather has improved markedly, we are expecting to see strong seller activity in May and June. Buyers are showing real intent to purchase, especially with no sign of an interest rate rise in the immediate future and some extremely competitive mortgage deals on offer.”
