New property listing in the UK up 43 per cent year on year despite a typically British start to spring
New property listing in the UK has not slowed down despite the typically British start to spring, new data released by online estate agents, HouseSimple.com shows. According to figures from online estate agents, new property listings were up 43% year on year when compared to March 2017.
Figures from HouseSimple revealed that 67,931 new properties were marketed by estate agents across 100 major UK towns and cities in March 2018 compared with just 47,413 in March 2017, the month when Article 50 was triggered.
Moreover, the number of new properties listed in March fell 27.7% compared to February due to fears of an economic turmoil around Article 50 which hit buyer and seller confidence. However, in 2018, the number of new properties listed for sale in March is up 1.1 per cent compared with February.
The study found that in towns where there was an increase in new sellers putting their homes on the market in March and those where new seller numbers fell last month was equally split.
New property listing in March was highest for Chichester which was up 47.1% on February. In the north east, new seller numbers fell by at least a fifth last month in Rochdale (down 26.3%), Sale (down 23.7%) and Lancaster (down 21.6%).
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%.
CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, Sam Mitchell said that although the early spring market was disrupted by some pretty awful weather in March, now the snow has melted, the next couple of months are set to be a very busy period. Saying that, there were still quite a few opportunistic sellers marketing last month hoping to steal a march on the competition and secure a sale while fewer properties were being listed. Seller activity has already picked up noticeably since Easter, and in the current buyer’s market, the successful seller will be the one who stands out from the crowd; whether that’s pricing their property realistically or offering a superior product to the market.
