"Properties in the North East are selling on average significantly faster than this time last year and more than two weeks quicker on average than earlier this year"
This means that homes in the region are selling two weeks faster than six months ago, and a whole month faster than this time last year.
Whitley Bay has overtaken neighbouring Tynemouth as the place where sellers have the shortest wait to sell, with homes there typically being sold after 147 days on the market – 26 days (9%) faster than April.
Tynemouth homes now take 150 days to sell on average – 10 days longer than six months ago.
Vendors in Ashington continue to wait the longest – with the average property in the town taking 310 days to sell. This wait is, however, 49 days (20%) less than the 359 recorded in April and the 424 days recorded twelve months ago.
North East houses are currently selling an average of 7% faster in October 2016 than they did in October 2016, with Ashington and Blyth leading the way with 20% year-on-year drop in the time taken for properties to sell.
Homes in Newcastle and Tynemouth are the only areas where the wait to sell is rising, in the case of Newcastle lengthening to 293 days from 209 12 months ago – a rise of three months.
Ajay Jagota, founder and Managing Director of North-East based sales and lettings firm KIS, responded to the figures: “There’s been a lot of speculation lately that in light of some current economic uncertainty people are putting off buying properties. If anything, these figures suggest the opposite is true.
In fact, properties in the North East are selling on average significantly faster than this time last year and more than two weeks quicker on average than earlier this year.
Information like this is crucial when it comes to taking big financial decisions. If you put your North East house on the market today on average you’ll be putting the ‘sold’ sign up next June. But if you live in Whitley Bay or Tynemouth, you could be moving by Valentine’s Day. What is really interesting is that this comes at a time when home ownership levels have fallen to their lowest levels for three decades and predictions that 2017 will see more households let than sold for the first time since before the Second World War.
Taken together, we can speculate that this acceleration in sales could be driven by buy to let investors, and if that is the case, it is even more imperative that steps are taken by government to reform the private rented sector, and in particular helping renters pursue home ownership if that is their aspiration.”
