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News: Home sellers - a tale of two regions

Property market observations from Hamptons show a marked difference between London sellers’ perception of how the market favours them and those in the country.

It’s a tale of two regions, according to Hamptons who say that sellers in London have started to realise that the market is favouring them (sellers up 22% for the quarter compared with last year), whereas in their country regions new supply is up only 2%, and down on the shorter four week period.

Late March and April see the first ‘Act’ of the spring selling market - the busiest time in the year. Easter’s fall can often see a short lull before a resumption in activity. Its late fall this year means Hamptons aren’t yet able to gauge the effect, but a comparison with 3 months to 21st April of last year shows that while new applicants are up 38% on the same period last year, they only have 2% more properties to sell. These buyers appear keen to act, with viewings and offers each up by more than 60%.

Business has been brisk in Cotswolds and the west, but all regions have shown increases of at least 20%.  This lack of fresh stock, and reduction in existing levels means that prices are coming under upwards pressure: some rises have already been seen but branch staff report competitors putting optimistic valuations on properties, discouraging serious buyer interest.

The second ‘Act’ of the spring market looks set to be a good time to sell: demand has grown strongly, without a commensurate rise in available properties.

In London, records are being broken for the number of properties exchanged, and although the disparity between the number of new buyers and limited amount of property to buy is not increasing, the imbalance is still sufficiently severe to cause prices to continue to rise.  Gazumping has re-emerged although thankfully still rare.  Prices in many areas have increased 15% and show signs of some momentum to come.

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