Research by London agency Benham and Reeves has shown that, over the last year, all but two counties in England have seen the number of buyers entering the market trend upwards, as greater market stability and improvements to mortgage affordability have helped boost buyer appetites.
The agency analysed property sale listings, looking at the number of homes to have secured a buyer (sold subject to contract) across each county in England and the average quarterly change in buyer activity seen since Q1 of last year.
The research shows that between Q1 2024 and Q1 of this year, the number of homes securing a buyer across England has increased at an average quarterly rate of 3.7% per quarter.
The largest uplift in buyer market activity has been seen across Lincolnshire, where the number of homes securing a buyer has increased at an average rate of 6% per quarter since Q1 of last year.
Cumbria has seen the second largest increase in buyer activity with an average quarterly increase of 5.9% in the number of homes marked as sold subject to contract, with Rutland placing third at 5.5%.
Cheshire (+5.4%), Worcestershire (+5.1%), Essex (+5%), Oxfordshire (+5%), East Riding of Yorkshire (+4.9%), Leicestershire (+4.9%) and Warwickshire (+4.9%) have also seen some of the largest average quarterly growth in buyer levels.
However, this positive trend is one that has been observed almost across the board, with just two counties seeing a decline.
Across the City of London, the number of homes finding a buyer has declined at an average quarterly rate of -6.2% since Q1 2024, with Gloucestershire also seeing a reduction of -2.9% a quarter on average.
In contrast to the City of London, Greater London has seen healthy growth, with buyer activity increasing by 3.6% per quarter on average.
Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, comments: “Stability has been key in tempting buyers back into the fold over the last year and it’s clear that with interest rates stabilising and then falling, the resulting improvements to mortgage affordability has helped to drive the market forward.
“In fact, all but two counties have seen the number of homes securing a buyer trend upwards over the last year and, with interest rates forecast to fall again, we expect buyer activity will only continue to strengthen over the course of the year, which in turn will continue to cultivate house price growth.”
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