New Property Listings Increased in UK in May But some areas still have falling supply

The number of homes for sale in the UK increased in May by 7% following a fall of 4% in April, according to the latest property listing figures to be published.

Almost 80% of towns and cities saw an increase in new property listings month on month led by Barnsley with a rise of 74.6%, Wolverhampton up 52.1% and Canterbury up 51.9%.

The data from online estate agent HouseSimple also shows that some areas are still suffering from a lack of supply. New listings were down by 43.7% in Oldham, down 26% in Blackburn and down 25.2% in Northampton.

The index looks at data from more than 500,000 listed properties to track the number of new properties marketed every month in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all London boroughs.

Overall supply levels have swung widely in many areas over the past couple of months, which the index report says is symptomatic of the low levels of stock estate agents have on their books.

For example, Oldham and Northampton have both seen seesawing supply in April and May, with new listings up significantly in April but falling back in May. Oldham experienced a 42.4% rise in supply levels in April but a 43.7% drop in May. While Northampton saw a 30.2% rise in April and a 25.2% drop off last month.

In London, the rises and falls in property supply in May, across the 32 London Boroughs, were far less pronounced than in April. Overall, new property listings were up 5.2% in the capital last month.

Two areas in London that did see extremes in supply levels were Newham and Sutton. Newham saw new listings rise 23.5% in May compared to a 15.8% fall in April. While, Sutton saw listings fall 28.1% in May, after a fall of 19.2% last month. Only seven boroughs saw a fall in property supply in May.

‘Political and economic uncertainty surrounding a general election can often see sellers hold off marketing until after the result is known. However, the 7% rise in May suggests many sellers aren’t waiting and marketed their properties last month,’ said Alex Gosling, HouseSimple chief executive officer.

He explained that the normal buys spring market has been affected by the triggering of Article 50 in March to begin the process of leaving the European Union and then the announcement of an unexpected general election.

Kindly shared by Property Wire