Market bounces back as prices hold for now
Analysis of how the region’s housing market performed in the week after its surprise reopening reveals increased interest from buyers and tenants and prices holding and, in some cases, rising.
Rightmove’s data shows that demand for property for sale rose by three per cent in Yorkshire compared to the same time last year. The national story was more subdued with demand down seven per cent.
More than 900 new sales listings came to the market in Yorkshire in the first week of reopening. Total available stock for sale was down 2.4 per cent since before lockdown. Average asking prices of all homes up for sale were up 2.1 per cent on last year, down from 2.6 per cent before the lockdown. The average asking price in Yorkshire is now £200,458. Fears of price-cuts have proved unfounded and just one per cent of properties up for sale have been reduced, compared to two per cent over the same week last year. The average size of reduction was 4.9 per cent, up from 4.7 per cent in 2019.
The biggest increase in buyer searches compared to last year were in Leeds, which saw a 38 per cent uplift, Whitby with a 32 per cent rise and Huddersfield, which enjoyed a 25 per cent increase.
Rightmove also analysed rental property activity in Yorkshire, which showed that searches for rentals in Yorkshire were up 58 per cent in the first week after rules on viewing and moving were relaxed. This was significantly higher than the national average of 33 per cent.
The property portal has also recorded 1,300 new rental listings in the region since the first day of reopening, down just 20 per cent on the same week last year.
The total available stock for rent was up one per cent since before lockdown.
Asking rents in Yorkshire are up 3.4 per cent compared to the same time last year and up 0.9 per cent since just before lockdown. Average Yorkshire rents are now £724 per calendar month.
The biggest increase in rental searches compared to a year ago were in Rotherham, which saw a rise of 97 per cent, Doncaster, where searches increased by 72 per cent, and Barnsley, which saw a 53 per cent rise.
GetAgent.co.uk has also looked at the market bounce back and says levels of homes for sale rose most rapidly in Birmingham in the week after the housing market reopened with Wiltshire right behind. Leeds saw the fifth highest increase while Huddersfeld was 15th in the Top 50 table.
This week’s UK Cities House Price Index by Zoopla, which includes Leeds and Sheffield, saw Portsmouth, Southampton and Newcastle with the strongest rise in buyer demand in the first week after the market reopened, up 46 per cent, 42 per cent and 36 per cent respectively when compared to to the average for the whole of February this year.
Demand levels in Leeds and Liverpool both bounced back by 18 per cent. As for prices, the Zoopla April data shows Leeds house prices have risen by 3.1 per cent year-on-year in Leeds where the average price is now £169,200.In Sheffield, they rose 2.2 per cent bringing the average asking price to £138,700.
A Zoopla survey show that 60 per cent of buyers in the UK are planning to continue with their search for their next home.
Richard Donnell, Director of Research and Insight at Zoopla, says that whether house prices fall will be depend to a great extent on the Government’s preparedness to provide ongoing support to the economy while lockdown restrictions are slowly lifted.