Sellers heed call to action as spring market commences

Low supply remains the biggest challenge facing buyers in property markets outside of London, but sellers are increasingly sensing a window of opportunity against a backdrop of resilient demand.

While new instructions outside of London were below the five-year average in March, the gap has reached its smallest level since April 2021 at -2%.

The number of new instructions was also the highest in a calendar month since June last year.

While demand has been extremely high in recent months, even since the end of the stamp duty holiday last September, a lack of supply has produced an imbalanced property market with strong house price inflation. In many cases, sellers have not listed their property as they are unable to find anywhere to buy, exacerbating the situation.

“Sellers appear to be looking to make the most of a strong market, conscious that rising borrowing costs and the cost-of-living squeeze may dampen activity later in the year,” said Chris Druce, senior research analyst at Knight Frank.

Market valuation appraisals were up 24% in March versus the five-year average outside of London, which will potentially lead to a solid pipeline of property for sale during the coming months (see chart).

Meanwhile, demand and the pipeline of sales remains strong. Offers accepted were up 71% in March versus the five-year average, and last month saw the most offers accepted outside of London since October 2020.

New prospective buyers outside of London increased by 44% in March versus the five-year average, which is the largest reading this year.

“While demand has ebbed and flowed in recent months relative to last year, the village market remains hot. The reaction to well-priced properties launched in the past few weeks has, at times, been frantic,” said Damian Gray, head of the Central region at Knight Frank.

“My advice to sellers is ‘get your house in order’. It’s too late to place your home on the market after you find somewhere that you’re interested in now. At the very least you need to be underway with the sales process when you make an offer to have chance of success,” Damian added.

Photo by Kai Bossom on Unsplash