New research from TwentyEA shows that volumes of new instructions for estate agents in 2023 to date are nearly 4% higher than 2022, and only 6% lower than the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Whilst volumes of sales agreed are down 17% on last year, there are signs that demand is now improving after reaching an all-time low in February 2023. Although demand in the first five months of 2023 was still 7.5% lower than 2019, there is now a much better balance between supply and demand than the unsustainable situation we saw in 2021.
All regions have seen a drop in demand, with Scotland significantly less affected than the rest of the UK, with a reduction of only 0.3%, followed by Northern Ireland (10.4%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (14.9%).
Katy Billany, Executive Director of TwentyEA commented:
“Our research reveals that the regions experiencing the largest increase in supply are the South West (10%), East Midlands (8%) and Wales (6%). Supply volumes have declined in Northern Ireland (16% down) and Inner London (3% down).
The good news is that availability of stock has increased, with over 60,000 properties available in May 2023, just 9% less to buy than there were in 2019.”
Katy continued:
“Available stock has increased at every price bracket since a year ago. In the price brackets (£350k+), there is more choice for buyers now than there was pre-pandemic, with £1m+ available properties increasing by 37% since 2020.
Stock levels are only lower in two price brackets (<£350k). In summary, the stock shortage is over for properties over £350k, but still acute for the lower priced segment.”
More on this, Katy also stated that for buyers in Inner London, there are over “12% more properties available than in 2019” and “available stock is roughly the same in the Midlands, while the North East and the South as seen reductions on stock levels”.
One Response
Agents might have stock and instructions but without enough buyers, they are not going to shift them. We now have a waiting game on our hands until this wretched government can lower inflation and interest rates.