The latest market indicator suggests that housing supply is beginning to rise, according to NAEA Propertymark’s December Housing Report.
The number of properties available per estate agency branch in December rose from 39 in November to 41 as potential sellers feel more confident in attempting to sell their properties following certainty over the UK’s role in the EU.
However, year on year, housing supply is still marginally down on the 42 properties available in December 2018.
Buyers seem to feel a lot more confident in the current climate with strong demand for housing in December. Year on year registered buyers per branch has increased from 304 to 305.
Unsurprisingly, with fewer people looking to buy in December, the number of potential buyers decreased from November’s 332 to 313. This represented the lowest figure since June 2019.
Agreed sales were also up for December with an average of 6 per estate agency branch marginally higher than the 5 agreed sales for the final calendar month in both 2017 and 2018.
First-time buyers ended 2019 as a dominant figure in the property market, accounting for almost a third (29%) of all transactions in December. This highlighted a 1% increase from November and 5% increase from December 2018.
Mark Hayward, Chief Executive, NAEA Propertymark commented:
“After a period of suppressed market activity due to Brexit and political uncertainty, the clear outcome of the General Election in December has injected some much-needed confidence into the market.
“Despite it typically being a quieter time of year seasonally, our figures have shown positive trends with both demand and the number of sales being high in comparison to previous years, as both buyers and sellers no longer hold off on their plans. This is an encouraging close to the year and we hope to see more of this stability in 2020.”
