Prospective buyers return to housing market: NAEA

The number of sales made to first-time buyers increased marginally in December, rising from 28% in November to 29%. Year-on-year, this is an increase of five percentage points from December 2018 when the number of sales made to the group stood at 24%.

The number of house hunters registered per estate agent branch decreased in December, falling from 332 to 313 to the lowest figure seen since June 2019. However year-on-year, housing demand is up, rising from 304 house hunters per branch in December 2018.

The number of properties available per member branch rose from 39 in November to 41 in December - the highest seen since August 2019. However the supply of housing is still down marginally on an annual basis, falling from 42 in December 2018.

Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, commented: “After a period of suppressed market activity due to Brexit and political uncertainty, the clear outcome of the General Election in December has injected some much-needed confidence into the market.

“Despite it typically being a quieter time of year seasonally, our figures have shown positive trends with both demand and the number of sales being high in comparison to previous years, as both buyers and sellers no longer hold off on their plans. This is an encouraging close to the year and we hope to see more of this stability in 2020.”