Commenting on the latest Index results, Stephen Watson, Managing Director, Agency Express, said: “There have been concerns voiced about the prospects for both those wishing to buy and those looking to sell properties. The increase in sales this month indicates that the market is stabilising and should provide reassurance to sellers that the buyers are still very active. The supply of properties coming onto the market has contracted as house owners decide to stay put rather than try a speculative sale. This has probably been driven by two factors - the reported softening of house prices and people taking a more cautious approach with their household budget decisions following the announcement of the Government’s spending review.”
Seven regions in the UK reported an increase in house sales with the ‘hot spots’ being the North West with a 23.1% increase, Greater London with a rise of 17.5% and the East Midlands which had an uplift of 17.1%. Scotland fared worst with a drop in sales of 11.4% with Central England seeing a fall of 7.6% and the West Midlands going down by 7.5%.
Leicester saw sales more than double in October with a 127.8% increase with Carlisle also seeing a huge increase of 48.1%. Five other cities saw significant uplifts – Leeds (28.1%), Bristol (24.1%), London (22.3%), Southampton (22.2%) and York (21.9%).
Only one region saw an increase in the number of new ‘For Sale’ instructions. The East Midlands was up 6.9% but all the other regions saw falls with the worst results coming form the North East at -23.2%, the West Midlands at -16.6%, Scotland at -15.7% and the South East at -15.6%.
Carlisle was the city that saw the greatest increase in new ‘For Sale’ boards going up with an increase of 10.9%. Nottingham had a rise of 9.9% followed by Birmingham at +7.4%, York at +6.0% and Edinburgh at +3.7%. The biggest casualty was Coventry where new instructions fell by 49.1%. Other cities to fair badly this month were Southampton down 28.2%, Leeds down 20.6%, Brighton down 19.7% and Newcastle down 15.2%. |
