Demand For UK Property Remains Buoyant

More than two in five (42%) properties listed for sale on Rightmove across England have already been spoken for, confirms Abode2.

According to analysis by estate agency comparison website GetAgent, the latest Homebuyer Hotspots Demand Index tells of a slight 1% increase in its demand metric from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024 – returning to the same level seen a year ago.

This is based on trawling Rightmove to see the proportion of stock listed as already sold (sold subject to contract or under offer) as a percentage of all stock listed for sale (e.g. if 100 homes are listed and 50 are already sold, the demand score would be 50%). It’s exactly the same methodology used by Benham and Reeves in its London demand index.

Drilling into more local trends, the City of London saw the biggest quarterly increase in demand, with the proportion of sold listings rising 6% from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024.

West Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Tyne and Wear, Staffordshire, Durham, South Yorkshire and Greater Manchester also recorded some of the strongest quarterly growth in buyer demand levels (+3%).

On an annual basis, Bedfordshire has seen the largest increase in buyer appetites, with a 6% rise in the metric compared to Q1 2023.

The City of London again ranks high (+4%), while Berkshire and Greater London both saw a 3% increase, and Kent, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire are up by 2%.

It’s Bristol, however, that has the highest overall demand score, with 62% of all homes listed for sale having already been snapped up by buyers.

Berkshire (49%), Tyne and Wear (48%), South Yorkshire (48%), Wiltshire (48%) and Bedfordshire (48%) were also home to high buyer demand levels in Q1.

Across the board, not only is the percentage of stock with a sale agreed higher than last year, stock levels are also higher. These increases should compound nicely to produce some positive transaction and revenue figures later on this year which the property industry is desperate for.