This is according to the latest Agency Express Property Activity Index which shows that house sales in January fell by 4.7% compared to the number sold in December. This is very similar to what happened last year when Arctic weather conditions disrupted house viewings resulting in a low number of sales in January 2010.
However, there was encouraging news as the number of properties on which sales were agreed was still up 25.7% on January 2010 and 13.4% on January 2009.
Three regions recorded positive uplifts in monthly property sales in January. The North East saw an increase of 7.5%, Yorkshire was up 3.8% and the South East rose 1.8%. The three worst performing regions were the North West which saw an 18.3% decline, the South West which had a 15.1% drop and London where sales fell by 14.0%.
Only 5 cities had an increase in January house sales - Bristol (+75.0%), Birmingham (+68.0%), Cardiff (+34.4%), Southampton (+12.5%) and Newcastle (3.1%).
The positive news for the market was the 51.5% increase in the amount of properties that were put up for sale. This is up 34.3% on last January and 25.7% up on January 2009.
The three regions which had the greatest increase in the number of properties put on the market in January were the North East with an increase of 104.9%, Central England with a rise of 87.5% and East Anglia with an uplift of 61.6%.
Seven cities saw the number of new ‘For Sale’ instructions at least double in January compared to December. They were Nottingham (+225.0%), Bristol (+135.0%), Southampton (+115.4%), Birmingham (+114.6%), Brighton (+113.6%), Leeds (+111.6%) and Newcastle (+109.6%).
Commenting on the latest Index results, Stephen Watson, managing director, Agency Express, said: “Without doubt, the severe snow conditions experienced up and down the country from mid-December into the New Year put a lot of people’s home buying plans on hold.
“Last year we saw a bumper month in February as the activity that was postponed from January came through. We can certainly expect to see the same pattern occur this year.
“Although there are a still a lot of questions to be asked about the state of the economy, the prospects for interest rates and inflation and the impact they will have on the housing market, when you see that the number of properties being put on the market and houses being sold being significantly above the previous two Januarys, it does indicate that confidence is returning to the market and that we can expect 2011 to be a better year than 2010.”
