Research shows January rise in demand and sales

February 24, 2023 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

Research carried out by Propertymark shows that the opening month of this year brought increases in both the level of demand among prospective home buyers and the number of agreed property sales.

January’s Propertymark Housing Market Insight found that demand among home buyers rose by 80% during the month, with individual estate agents seeing increases in prospective buyer numbers. The average volume of these per estate agent went up to 70 over the course of the month, compared with 39 for December of last year.

Propertymark is suggesting that the rises in demand and sales are standard for the market at this time of the year, because potential buyers often wait until the festive season is over before beginning to look seriously for properties.

The month also brought a rise in average home viewing numbers, which hit 2.9 compared with 1.8 during December. The latter marked a record low for them.

Perhaps more surprisingly there was a big increase in the level of housing supply in January, with this going up by 80%. Agreed property sales hit averages of six per member branch during the month, whereas in December the average figure was four.

Speaking to Mortgage Solutions, Propertymark CEO Nathan Emerson said:

“Serious buyers are still very much in the market, but more homes are coming up for sale, meaning competition is considerably lower than what we have previously seen.”

Those with the CeMAP mortgage advisor qualification will be able to help homebuyers benefit if the rise in housing supply brings lower prices.