Housing demand
Despite the increase of new instructions, which comes after three months of declining stock, Propertymark members have also reported an average of 100 new house hunters registering per branch. This is almost double the number of those in December.
Property sales
The number of sales agreed has also increased by 40 per cent compared to December 2021, once again reversing the declining trend over the three months prior.
House prices have remained strong with 37 per cent of the available properties being sold above the asking price throughout January, which is an increase from December’s 25 per cent figure and over three times that of January 2021 (9 per cent).
First-time buyers
Purchases by first-time buyers made up 29 per cent of sales in January — a 107 per cent increase from December and a 26 per cent increase when compared to January 2021.
Supply and demand
While there has not been a let-up in demand, the supply line appears to be recovering at a quicker pace and edging towards a rebalancing of the market.
While figures provided by Propertymark’s Housing Market Report point to a slight decrease in house prices, the industry remains in a strong sellers’ market heading into Spring, a traditionally busy time.
Propertymark member and Regional Executive Mary-Lou Press, Partner at Alexander Reid & Frazer in County Down, Northern Ireland, took on 20 new instructions in just three weeks in January and two developments of 22 new-build homes.
An offer was accepted on one property in just two days at £10,000 over the asking price with 16 of the new-build homes also sold in just two days.
We’d been listing between eight and ten properties a month between October and December last year so were not expecting this sudden increase in new instructions.
There is still huge demand there for all house types, from all buyer types, whether that’s first-time buyers, investors or retirees. They’re not hanging around and our sale agreed times are ranging from two days to two weeks. I had a viewing request for one property within 10 minutes of listing it.
Our latest Housing Market Report paints the positive picture that our member agents have been hoping for, which is the much-needed increase in the number of properties coming to the market.
There is certainly no let-up in demand, but the supply line appears to be recovering at a quicker pace and edging towards a rebalancing of the market.
This is welcome news on the back of stock levels that had declined to record lows throughout last year against the backdrop of escalating demand.
