The first quarter of 2025 saw 451,000 new properties listed for sale, according to the latest insight from property data analysts TwentyCi – the highest number of Q1 listings in the last seven years.
As well as a 4% rise in new instructions, TwentyCi’s figures reveal the number of sales agreed is up year-on-year, with a jump of over 9%. ‘Should interest rates continue to decline in 2025, we would expect to see a further upward trend develop’, the report notes.
Q1 exchanges were up 24% compared with 2024 – the ‘expected consequence’ of the stamp duty changes. Fall through volumes were also significantly higher as a result of the threshold returning to £125,000, which TwentyCi attributes to sellers abandoning transactions if they missed the deadline.
The report suggests the rise in sales is partly due to challenging conditions in the rental market for both landlords and tenants. The volume of properties to let is at an all-time low, with the average let agreed price now standing at £1,767 per calendar month. With taxation changes and increasing regulation prompting landlords to exit the market, the result is an increase in the number of renters choosing to buy.
Alex Bannister, independent TwentyCi board adviser and former director of Future Ventures, Nationwide Building Society, commented:
“Scare stories around landlords exiting the sector may prove overblown, but TwentyCi data shows a marked increase in the proportion of newly listed properties which were formerly rented (15.6% in Q1 2025 versus 9.8% a year prior). There are also fewer properties available to let – down 16% on last year in Q1 2025.”
Across the regions, strong growth was reported everywhere apart from Northern Ireland, which experienced a decline of 1.7%. East Midlands recorded the highest percentage of sales agreed at 14.2%, followed by the North West with 13.7%. Third place was shared by Wales and the East of England, with 12.4% each.
In the major cities, Manchester again came out top in terms of sales agreed, with a 16.4% increase on last year. Newcastle upon Tyne saw an increase of 12.5%, followed by Cardiff with 12%. Increases were more modest in Scotland, with Glasgow at 2.1% and Edinburgh at 1.9%.
Despite industry sentiment remaining cautious, Bannister suggests the pessimism may be misplaced and a relaxation of lending limits may offer a market boost.
He explained:
“Despite some risks, it is too soon to become pessimistic about UK housing. A vital factor (often ignored) will be how lenders decide to behave. Affordability remains stretched for many prospective buyers, but pay packets are rising and despite government rhetoric, the supply of new build will not make a huge difference in the next year or two. Without a recession, an almost inexorable pressure will build on lenders and regulators to allow higher lending multiples. After the Global Financial Crisis, post-2008, lenders must contain their lending over 4.5 times income to less than 15% of annual lending and “stress” the rate they offer to calculate whether a loan is affordable. Santander has recently relaxed their stress testing and other lenders have called for a relaxation of the lending cap. The latest data (Q4 2024) suggests levels of high multiple low LTV lending have risen recently but remain half that seen in the run-up to the GFC.
“I wouldn’t bet against a relaxation, and this could be the most important factor in the rest of 2025.”
