According to the latest figures from property search engine Globrix.com, sellers, buoyed by a significant rise in buyer activity in the past couple of months, returned to the market in their thousands.
In total, 102,175 new properties came onto the market in April, the first time the number of new properties in any single month has topped 100,000 since May 2008. It is also a far cry from the number of new sellers at the beginning of the year — in January, just over 40,000 new properties were advertised.
Globrix.com figures showed the last week in April was particularly busy for new instructions, with 37,297 new properties being advertised, the highest number in any one week this year and almost as many new sellers as there were in the whole of January.
Daniel Lee, CEO of property website Globrix.com, commented: “It would be foolhardy to start believing we’re at the bottom of the property slump simply because buyers and sellers are returning to the market. There are still likely to be rough waters ahead given the turbulent economic climate, particularly if interest rates start to rise rapidly.
“However, after almost a year of downbeat news around the housing market, there is no denying that the picture looks significantly rosier right now than it has done in a very long time.
“Agents are reporting that business is picking up significantly and that the people coming through the doors aren’t just browsing but increasingly are genuine buyers who have funds in place and are keen to buy.”
