Record £150bn of property sold in buying frenzy

THE booming housing market has smashed another record – with almost £150billion worth of property sold in the first 15 weeks of this year.

The £149billion sales total is more than double the amounts sold in 2019 and 2020, said website Zoopla.

Cheaper stamp duty bills, the rise of 95 per cent mortgages and the shortage of properties on the market are thought to have fuelled the boom.

Buyer demand is so strong that it is feared the amount of houses coming on to the market will plummet.

The number of homes up for sale so far this year is 19 per cent lower than in the same period of 2020.

In particular, the supply of three and four-bed houses has suffered the biggest annual drop and is at a five-year low – prompting fears that a lack of family houses for sale will limit market growth later in the year.

The National Association of Estate Agents says there are now 13 buyers for every property on the market.

And in March, 27 per cent of sales were made to first-time buyers – the largest share since June 2020.

Grainne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, said it is currently “a very tight market for family homes”.

She added: “This will start to ease in the near term as homeowners become comfortable offering viewings and there’s a return to pre-pandemic ‘normality’.”

Mark Hayward, chief policy adviser at NAEA Propertymark, said: “The imbalance of supply and demand means it’s an extremely strong sellers’ market.”

A Government-backed five per cent deposit mortgage scheme was launched last week to give first-time buyers a boost.