Date Published 04 October 2018
The latest figures released by Housesimple have shown that the early autumn rush to get new properties on the market was up almost a fifth compared to the previous month.
Housesimple found that new supply saw an increase of 18.1% during September across major UK towns and cities. This was a rise of 61,472 in August to 72,593 in September. Although this hike can be attributed to-some-degree to the lull over the summer period when families head off on their holidays, the number of new properties marketed was also up 6.2% on September 2017.
The Property Supply Index looks at the number of new properties being listed by estate agents every month in 100 major UK towns and cities.
London saw a huge 45.5% increase in new listings in September, more than twice the UK average. This was the highest level of new supply coming to the market in the capital in any single month since pre-2015.
Following double digits falls in new supply in July and August, supply bounced back in September, with new listings up 45.5% compared to August.
Every London borough saw at least a 20% rise in new property supply in September, with Kensington & Chelsea, an area favoured by foreign investors, recording a huge 96.1% increase in new listings last month.
Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com, comments: 'It was one of the hottest summers on record and buyer and seller activity inevitably dropped off in July and August. But come September, it was very much business as usual. We saw a healthy level of new properties being listed last month, in what is traditionally a busy period for estate agents.
It's interesting to note that seller numbers are rising faster in London than anywhere else in the country. Understandably, a lot of homeowners were choosing to wait, hoping that prices would recover quickly. Now that doesn't appear likely, the need to move is the priority. They don't want to wait any longer and they know this is a good time to sell with plenty of motivated buyers.
It's not so much a case of beating the Brexit rush for the door, but more life has to go on. People will always need to move whatever is happening in the housing market and wider economy. And there seems to be more of an acceptance now amongst sellers that they need to price more realistically to attract a buyer. This sensible and measured view is helping to push through more sales which wasn't the case before the summer.'
