Buyer demand is up…but only slightly, new figures reveal
The market shows some shoots of recovery with new buyers coming forward up 0.3% in Q4 last year.
It’s an increase, if only a very small one, but homebuyer demand did rise in Q4 last year, according to new data.
The number of buyers coming to the market crept up by 0.3%, although it was down 6.7% on the previous year.
GetAgent.co.uk’s hotspots index calculates homebuyer demand based on the proportion of stock listed as already sold (subject to contract or under offer) as a percentage of all homes for sale.
And the latest index from the agent comparison website shows that across England just one area saw positive movement. In the City of London, buyer demand climbed by 2.4% in Q4.
Homebuyer
Durham saw the largest annual decline in buyer demand at -15.7%, followed by Suffolk (-10.9%) and Cheshire (-10.7%).
While overall demand only crept up slightly, there are far more better signs of growing market momentum at county level.
Rutland saw buyer demand increase by 3.8% in Q4 compared to the previous quarter.
Both Buckinghamshire and Berkshire also showed strong signs of growth at 3.4%.
Surrey (+2.8%), Hertfordshire (+2.5%), East Sussex (+2.4%), Bristol (+2.2%), London (+2.1%), Oxfordshire (+2.1%), Essex (+2.1%) and Bedfordshire (+1.9%), also rank within the top 10 uplifts in buyer demand on a quarterly basis.
There are green shoots of positivity starting to show”.

Colby Short, co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, says: “While the landscape remains largely subdued, there are green shoots of positivity starting to show and in some areas, these shoots are growing at a far swifter rate than the national picture alludes to.
“Although the market is yet to spring back into action when viewed on an annual basis, there’s no doubt that things are improving, and this puts us in a great position as we enter the new year.”
Propertymark has also reported on the homebuyer market; it’s members reveal a 14% drop in properties available for sale and a 6% decrease in the number of buyers during November.
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