There are signs that the supply shortage in the UK housing market could be easing with the number of properties for sale up 13.3% in towns and cities in February.
Overall the supply increased in 83.7% of towns and cities but a number saw listing fall and London saw it rise by just 4.7% last month, the data from online estate agents HouseSimple shows.
Warwick saw new listings rise by 76.2%, while in Edinburgh and Carlisle supply was up 59.7% and 54.6% respectively. But supply fell by 12.6% in Bottle, by 12.4% in Guildford and by 8.5% in Salford.
Other locations that are seeing supply rise significantly include Lancaster with a rise of 48.1%, High Wycombe up 42.2%, Darlington up 40.8%, Grimsby up 40%, Chester up 39.5%, Hartlepool up 39.1% and Stockton on Tees up 37.7%.
Salford has seen supply fall by 8.5%, Chelmsford by 7.9%, Nuneaton by 7.5%, Ipswich by 5.4%, Hastings by 4.5%, Nottingham by 3.3%, Bolton by 3% and Colchester by 2.1%.
Indeed apart from High Wycombe in the South East and Warwick in the Midlands, all the main rises in new listings are in the north of the country and in Edinburgh. In contrast the locations where supply is falling is predominately in the south and east of the country.
At 4.7%, the rise in London was less than half that across the whole of the UK, although some areas did see some sizeable rises in listings. For example, Kensington and Chelsea experienced an uplift of 23.1%, while Lambeth saw property supply increase 20.4% last month.
Other significant rises in London included an increase in supply of 19.4% in Haringey, a rise of 18.2% in Hounslow, while listings were up by 17.1% in Westminster, by 13.8% in Havering, by 13.6% in Tower Hamlets, by 11.6% in Wandsworth, by 9.7% in Hackney and by 9.6% in Sutton.
‘The market needs a boost in supply and it’s encouraging to see that new listings are up in February, albeit that we would typically expect numbers to rise in the coming months as sellers list their properties in time for the Spring market,’ said Alex Gosling, chief executive officer of HouseSimple.
‘What’s more encouraging is that new stock levels are higher than October 2016 and only slightly short of September 2016, both traditionally strong months for the property market,’ he explained.
‘Now we need to see buoyant listings figures in March and April because the buyers are definitely there, and thanks to the continued competitive mortgage deals still on offer, they are committed to purchasing,’ he added.
