It cannot have escaped Brits attention that the UK property market is more than buoyant with almost every area of the UK currently experiencing an increase in homebuyer demand. New data from GetAgent.co.uk shows us precisely where…
If you live in the UK and are in the process of, or considering selling, you must have thought you’ve been blessed behind your back. Contrary to many pundits views earlier this year, the UK property market has clearly obliterated all the pessimistic forecasts and shows little signs of slowing down. New data shows that almost every area of the UK is experiencing increased demand from homebuyers.
GetAgent.co.uk’s latest Homebuyer Demand Hotspots Index clearly shows that the current stamp duty holiday has helped accelerate UK buyer demand in the third quarter of this year.
At 51%, current buyer demand levels are at their highest since the start of last year, up 9% annually, with a massive 8% increase in the previous quarter alone.
Just one of the 100 areas analysed by GetAgent has seen an annual decline in buyer demand in Q3, while all 100 locations enjoyed positive movement on a quarterly basis.
Current Demand
More affordable pockets of the market remain the strongest for current buyer demand with Falkirk 73%), Glasgow (68%), Sale (64%), Wigan (63%), Sheffield (63%), Warrington (63%), Worthing (62%), Dartford (61%), Oldham (61%) and Dundee (60%) ranking as the top 10 hottest spots at present.
Largest Quarterly Change
Dundee has also seen the largest quarterly uplift at +25%, with Newport (+18%), Swansea (+18%), Falkirk (+16%), Birkenhead (+16%), Glasgow (+15%), Hastings (+14%), Darlington (+14%), Cardiff (+13%) and Middlesbrough (+13%) also enjoying some of the most significant quarterly increases.
Largest Annual Change
On an annual basis, Dundee (+25%), Darlington (+22%), Birkenhead (+20%) and Middlesbrough (+16%) make the top 10 biggest increases again, joined by Stockton-on-Tees (+20%), St Helen’s (+20%), Huddersfield (+19%), Warrington (+19%), Blackburn (+18%) and Wigan (+16%).
London
With current homebuyer demand at 35%, London ranks as the third coldest spot for buyer demand overall. It is also amongst the cities to have seen the most marginal increases in buyer demand, with a +3.6% increase quarterly and a +2.3% uplift annually,
However, peripheral pockets of the capital continue to perform well with Bexley (61%), Waltham Forest (54%) and Havering (54%) seeing strong levels of buyer demand at present.
Barking and Dagenham (+9%), Havering (+9%) and Redbridge (+8%) have enjoyed the largest quarterly uplifts, while Havering also ranks as the highest annual increase along with Bromley (+7%), Bexley (+7%) and Croydon (+7%).
The current pandemic continues to stunt the appetite for central London homes, however, with Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and the City of London ranking as the capital’s coldest spots for homebuyer demand in Q3.
Islington (-2%) is the only borough to have seen a quarterly decline in demand, with Merton (0%) and Southwark (0%) remaining flat.
Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, said: “The meteoric uplift in UK homebuyer demand in the third quarter of this year demonstrates a market that has well and truly bounced back from pandemic paralysis.
An 8.5% quarterly increase in buyer demand is phenomenal when you consider that the market has remained largely static since the start of 2019.
Even following the Brexit bounce seen at the start of the year, we saw an uplift of just 2% and for every single area to have seen a quarterly uplift in demand is unheard of.
It’s fair to say that the current stamp duty holiday in its various forms across England, Wales and Scotland has played a huge part in this revival and should continue to do so over the final quarter of 2020 at the very least.
This is great news for home sellers who may have seen the value of their property plateau or even fall during the prolonged period of Brexit uncertainty that plagued the market over the last few years. With buyer demand now seeing a healthy increase, sold prices are likely to follow suit.
With a higher property price tag, the rebound has been less pronounced in London, although the capital’s outer boroughs continue to perform well. As many of us continue to work from home, it’s likely that demand for central London homes will remain muted over the coming months and potentially into next year.”
GetAgent.co.uk: Homebuyer Demand Hotspots Index
- GetAgent’s Hotspots Demand Index monitors homebuyer demand across the UK’s top 100 towns and cities on a quarterly basis based on market data from the major property portals.
- Current demand is based on the proportion of stock listed as already sold (sold subject to contract or under offer) as a percentage of all stock listed for sale. E.g., if 100 homes are listed, and 50 are already sold, the demand score would be 50%.
- The quarterly change is the percentage difference between the current demand and the demand registered in Q2 of 2020.
- The annual change is the percentage difference between the current demand and the demand registered in Q3 of 2019.
Read more articles on the current state of the UK property market in our dedicated section here.