The property market has seen an increase in activity since the beginning of 2018, with new reports showing a 20% rise in sellers during the month of February.
Recent data from HouseSimple.com detailed the total number of new estate agent listings and recorded a rise from 56,041 in January to 67,182 in February. Supply was up 40% in January 2018, which is an increase of 2.5% when compared to the same period last year.
The study found that 93% of towns and cities saw growth in the number of sellers coming to the market, with the city of Dundee recording a substantial 82.2% rise in new listings. Similar activity was seen throughout Scotland, as Edinburgh and Glasgow saw a jump of 75.9% and 53.3% respectively.
Other areas in the UK also saw a considerable increase in new listings, such as Hereford with 80.3%, Bath with 70.9%, along with the town of Rotherham showing growth of 67.1% in new sellers.
In the capital, new listings were up from 24,004 to 27,573 in February, a 14.9% increase, which is just short of the UK average, but still a positive sign for the city of London.
There were some cities and towns that recorded a fall from month-to-month, with Rugby seeing the largest fall (16.4%), along with Stevenage (14.5%) and Oldham (12.2%).
CEO of HouseSimple.com – Sam Mitchell – offered his comments on the findings of their data, stating; “It’s encouraging to see that a healthy January in terms of replenishing stock levels has been followed by a strong February. However, before we crack open the champagne, we do need to put this increase into perspective. The number of new sellers marketing last month was actually only 2.5% higher than the corresponding month in 2017. This suggests that rather than a sudden rush of sellers, that we have simply seen normal seller numbers in January and February after an extremely slow December. The cold hard facts are that the property market is still in dire need of more stock, but at least stock levels are going in the right direction and sellers should hopefully be encouraged by signs that buyers are showing more intent to make offers. The next couple of months, as we enter the Spring period, will be crucial to maintain momentum, and especially this year as Brexit rhetoric ramps up. The market has proved robust enough to deflect Brexit concerns so far, but a slow Spring could leave the market vulnerable if the UK economy begins to stutter.”
