House sellers see new-year boom
12th February 2019

Hopeful house sellers hit the new year running, with nearly two thirds more homes put on the market last month than December – far more than the expected post-Christmas bounce.

Figures from the latest Housesimple Property Supply Index saw 52,207 homes enter the market as against 31,825 (64%), with an even bigger shift in London from 12,709 to 21,677 ((70.6%).

In other UK hotspots, listings more than trebled in Hasings, and almost doubled in Southend and Torquay, while the biggest increase was Bromley, rising by 270.6%.

Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, said: “We would normally expect to see activity pick up in the New Year, but no-one was quite sure how sellers and buyers would react to the amplified Brexit uncertainty in January. In the end, it proved to be a busy month for sellers in particular, and even with the distraction of the Commons vote mid-month, homeowners were keen to make up for lost time.

“We are seeing a ‘life goes on’ attitude amongst homeowners, and many view the current political climate as an opportunity to market and secure a sale while there is less competition around.

“It’ll be interesting to see how the next few months pans out. If the odds improve on a Brexit deal, we could see a cavalry charge of sellers putting their homes on the market. What we won’t necessarily see is an immediate surge in buyers, and savvy sellers may see this period of Brexit limbo as the perfect opportunity to market and have the pick of the buyers out there.”