Property demand down across the UK

Property demand down across the UK

Property demandfell across the UK in 2017based on the percentage of homes listed across the major property portals, like Zoopla and Rightmove, that were sold.

Towards the end of the year 34% of homes were sold, down 6% since the start of the year.

Soilhull was the most in demand town with the highest percentage of properties (65%) sold compared to the number listed in the area, eMoov’s hotspots index found.

Russell Quirk, founder and chief executive of eMoov.co.uk, said: “A marginal fall in demand over the last year reflects the tough market conditions that have been prevalent since the Brexit vote and it’s encouraging at least, that buyer demand has remained as high as it currently is.

“The diversity of the market means, of course, some areas have performed a lot better than others and the likes of Bristol, Solihull, Rugby and Edinburgh seem undeterred by previous market uncertainty, whilst parts of London for example that were cornerstones of price growth, have seen buyer demand drop right off.

“We’re confident that the market will now start to show signs of normality as we head into 2018 and leave an erratic year behind us. As this previous market sentiment grows, we will no doubt see buyer demand return to previous levels and prices follow suit.”

After Solihull, the most in-demand town/city for property at present was Rugby (63%) followed by Bristol (63%), Eastleigh (61%), Warwick (59%) and Portsmouth (59%).

Rochdale (+56%) and Stoke-on-Trent (+53%) have seen the largest increase over the course of the year, while Aberdeen (-41%) and Shrewsbury (-36%) have seen the biggest drop.

London saw a tough year for the market with demand falling by 25% since the start of the year, now at 24% overall.

Bexley (49%), Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Hillingdon (46%) and Sutton (45%) are the boroughs with the highest demand amongst buyers.

Greenwich has enjoyed the largest increase over the last year up 27%, joined by Redbridge (+7%), Barking and Dagenham and Hillingdon (+1%) the only other boroughs to have seen an increase since the start of the year.

Westminster, Lambeth and Kensington and Chelsea are the least in demand boroughs at present with demand at just 9%.

After seeing a huge uplift in demand post-Olympics, Newham has seen the largest drop in buyer demand in 2017, down -55%, joined by Lambeth (-45%) and Islington (-33%).

On a county level demand across England is currently at 38%, down 6% over the course of the year.

Bristol leads the way with 63% buyer demand, with Northamptonshire (51%) and Suffolk (50%) also seeing strong levels of buyer demand.

Oxfordshire saw the largest decrease since the start of the year, down -64%, while Hampshire has seen the largest uplift in buyer interest up 45% this year.

Across Scotland, buyer demand is currently at 34%, down 6% since the start of the year.

The Scottish capital tops the table for current demand at 56% in Edinburgh, followed by West Lothian (55%), East Renfrewshire (53%) and Glasgow (52%).

Wales has bucked the trend across the rest of the UK, with demand levels increasing 13% to 31% currently.

Newport is currently seeing the largest levels of buyer demand at 56%, with Caerphilly (47%), Cardiff (44%) and Monmouthshire (43%) also enjoying strong demand.