House sellers hit record high
12th June 2018

The number of UK house sellers shot up by 7.4% last month – the highest figure since before 2017 and giving a year on year increase of over 50%.

According to the latest Property Supply Index compiled by online estate agents HouseSimple.com across 100 UK towns and cities, 73,577 new properties were marketed by estate agents in May, compared to 68,500 in April.

HouseSimple only started recording new property supply figures at the start of 2017, and May is the first month since then that new seller numbers have surpassed 70,000.

New property listings last month were also 54.6% higher than the corresponding month in 2017.

Across the 100 towns and cities, more than three quarters (79%) saw new stock levels rise in May vs April. That’s a reverse on April, when more areas (57.6%) saw new supply levels fall compared to the previous month.

Regionally, two areas in the South East experienced the biggest uplift in new stock in May. Chichester saw new property listings double last month, up 98.3% on April, with listings up 58.2% in Oxford.

In London, new property listings were down slightly on the UK average, with supply rising 5.9% in May compared to April. Haringey and Kensington & Chelsea both saw new stock up more than 18% in May.

Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, said: “May saw a healthy boost in stock coming onto market, with eight out of ten areas experiencing an increase in new listings. Although market conditions were a little subdued in the early part of May, there was a noticeable pick-up in activity in the second half of the month.

“Good weather always brings out the buyers, and June is predicted it be a hot month. Hopefully this will encourage committed sellers to take this window of opportunity and continue the momentum built up in April. Buyers are showing real intent to purchase at the right price, especially with no sign of an interest rate rise on the horizon and some attractive mortgage deals on offer.”