"The market needs a boost in supply and it’s encouraging to see that new listings are up in February"
According to the data, the UK saw property supply increase in 83.7% of towns and cities in February. In Warwick, the number of new listings rose 76.2%, while in Edinburgh and Carlisle property listings were up 59.7% and 54.6% respectively.
To compile the Supply Index, HouseSimple looks at data from 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 increases in new property listings in February versus January:
|
Town/City |
Region |
% rise in new listings in February vs. January |
|
Warwick |
West Midlands |
76.2% |
|
Edinburgh |
Scotland |
59.7% |
|
Carlisle |
North West |
54.6% |
|
Lancaster |
North West |
48.1% |
|
High Wycombe |
South East |
42.2% |
|
Darlington |
North East |
40.8% |
|
Grimsby |
Yorkshire and the Humber |
40.0% |
|
Chester |
North West |
39.5% |
|
Hartlepool |
North East |
39.1% |
|
Stockton on Tees |
North East |
37.7% |
However, some parts of the country did see property supply fall last month. In Bootle, for example, the number of new property listings fell 12.6%, while Guildford and Salford saw supply drop 12.4% and 8.5% respectively.
In London, supply was up just 4.7% in February, less than half that across the whole of the UK, although some areas did see some sizeable rises in listings. For example, Kensington and Chelsea experienced an uplift of 23.1%, while Lambeth saw property supply increase 20.4% last month.
Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, comments: “The market needs a boost in supply and it’s encouraging to see that new listings are up in February, albeit that we would typically expect numbers to rise in the coming months as sellers list their properties in time for the Spring market.
What’s more encouraging is that new stock levels are higher than October 2016 and only slightly short of September 2016, both traditionally strong months for the property market. Now we need to see buoyant listings figures in March and April because the buyers are definitely there, and thanks to the continued competitive mortgage deals still on offer, they are committed to purchasing.”
