Supply and demand disparity begins to ease as spring market kicks in

Although stock levels remain historically low, more new properties are coming to the market bringing with them new buyers and a lift in sales being agreed. However, buyers are still predominantly paying asking price and above, meaning it's still very much a seller's market, according to the latest market analysis from Propertymark.

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Property Reporter
26th April 2022
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The average number of new potential buyers registering at each member branch was up from 67 in February to 84 in March, returning close to the January high of 100.

The average number of properties listed per member agent branch remained fairly steady at 22, compared to 23 in February. New instructions to the market continue to be high at an average of 10 per member branch, showing the increase in supply since the new year has held.

Sales agreed are up from 8 per branch in February to 10 in March — slightly above the long-term average for March of 9 (2012-2019). The number of offers accepted at or over the asking price has increased by 4 percentage points month-on-month to 84%. That is the highest figure since our surveys began (first record: September 2013).

Sales to FTBs

The proportion of monthly sales to first-time buyers stayed strong at 30% of overall sales in March. This is slightly down on February’s figure of 37% but still above average for the post-2020 lockdown period (25%).

Nathan Emerson CEO Propertymark, comments: "Our March figures show a range of new activity as the spring market makes itself known. The number of new properties coming on to the market has increased slightly and new stock breeds new buyers and new sales.

"The number of sales being agreed in March is slightly above our recorded long-term average and the uplift in properties coming to market is a trend we would hope to see continue into April and May."

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