House market back on the up
30th May 2017

The number of homes going on the market was up 7% in May, after a 4% drop in April, with increases seen across nearly 80% of UK towns and cities including dramatic changes in some areas, according to the latest Property Supply Index published today by online estate agent HouseSimple.

Supply levels have swung widely in many areas over the past couple of months, which the report attributes to low levels of stock that estate agents have on their books. For example, Barnsley went up nearly 75% over April with Wolverhampton and Canterbury both over 50% with Ipswich, Carlisle and Lincoln following on.

Oldham and Northampton have both seen seesawing supply in April and May, with new listings up significantly in April but falling back in May. Oldham experienced a 42.4% rise in supply levels in April but a 43.7% drop in May. While Northampton saw a 30.2% rise in April and a 25.2% drop-off last month.

Alex Gosling, CEO of HouseSimple.com said: “Political and economic uncertainty surrounding a General Election can often see sellers hold off marketing until after the result is known. However, the 7% rise in May suggests many sellers aren’t waiting and marketed their properties last month to try and secure an offer before the Election result.

“There is something to be said for doing this. The Spring period, traditionally a buoyant time for the property market, has been knocked off kilter by Article 50 being invoked and the PM calling a General Election. As a result, we could see a late Spring bounce after the Election result, with a stampede of sellers putting their properties onto the market before the summer holidays. It doesn’t give home sellers a lot of time to secure a sale and the savvy and committed seller, willing to negotiate on price could well have seen an opportunity to beat this stampede and steal a march on their competition.”

HouseSimple.com looked at new properties listed in May vs April in more than 100 UK towns and cities using used data from Home.co.uk, which lists more than 500,000 properties for sale.