UK starts to show positive signs of life
New research indicates that the UK housing market saw a jump in the number of homes for sale last month, which should be encouraging news for both buyers and sellers.
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has revealed that February brought a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent in the level of available housing stock.
According to its latest market report, the number of house-hunters registering with agents nationwide also rose from the 252 reported in January to 268 – a seven-month high. Property sales increased in February too, growing from an average of six to eight per branch in the space of a month, despite continued worries over interest rate rises.
Michael Jones, NAEA president, commented: "To see such a significant boost in activity amongst sellers compared with this time last year is encouraging news for the UK property market.
"The signs are that they are being more realistic about the price they can expect to achieve when they put their house on the market. This means that, on the whole, supply can meet demand levels, meaning a more stable market. However, the picture is still very variable across the UK, with agents reporting much higher growth in enquiries and stock availability in some regions than others.
Meanwhile, recent research indicates demand is outpacing supply within the UK rental market. Prices for rental property continued to increase during the month of February.
The average cost for rental property in England and Wales increased during the month of February by 0.2%, to £684 p/m. According to LSL Property Services, the average rent surged up slightly during the month, exceeding the cost of being a tenant last year by almost 4%.
LSL sees the rise in rental property as naturally occurring due to the continuing problems which exist within the housing market. Those problems can include, but are not limited to - strict lending criteria and the large amounts required to deposit on homes. Taking these issues into consideration, along with rate increase, and it’s not hard to see why many have been forced into rental property.
The director of LSL Property Services, David Newnes, commented on the race for the next rental pound, saying, "Around 158,000 fewer first-time buyers were unable to enter the market in the last 12 months, compared with three years ago.
"With the mortgage market even more sluggish since the start of 2011, this backlog of frustrated buyers has increased even further and rents have risen correspondingly."
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