This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
Would-be homeowners and buy-to-let investors have been encouraged with the news that more homes came onto the market in the UK during the last month.
Data from the report by HouseSimple indicates that across the UK, new property listings increased by 9.1% in the last month.
Increases
Between August and September, London saw a 27.1% increase, with supply in Kensington and Chelsea up by 122.2%. Camden also saw a significant rise of 95.7%.
Further north, Sunderland saw new listings increase by 46.7%, while in Cambridge, new homes on the market hit 35.5%. However, in Durham, supply dipped by 21.5%.
North of the border, Dundee recorded the highest number of new homes on the market in Scotland with a 171.1% hike in supply.[1]
After a quiet summer, where Britain faced a critically low level of housing stock, 60% of the 100 towns and cities covered saw an increase in new listings.
New listings increase during September
Scottish supply
The Scottish market saw a particular surge in new listings during September, with supply nearly tripling in Dundee. Aberdeen saw a 48.8% increase, while In Edinburgh, listings rose by 28.3%. Perth too saw a good increase, of 24.7%.[1]
London too saw a very good month, with the number of new listings almost hitting 25,000. Just two London boroughs, Croydon and Lambeth, saw a dip in supply.
Alex Gosling, Chief Executive of HouseSimple, noted that, ‘the current housing shortage in the UK has been a major contributory factor in rising property prices.’ He feels, ‘we are in the grip of a severe property shortage and if September hadn’t seen a spike in new property listings we really could have been looking at a full blown supply crisis.’[1]
‘Fortunately the September figures are far more encouraging. Almost 60% of UK towns and cities have seen stock levels rise between August and September. But it’s too early to breath a huge sigh of relief that a property crisis has been averted,’ Gosling continued.[1]
Concluding, he noted that, ‘stock reservoirs still remain dangerously low. September needs to provide the catalyst for the rest of the year. The housing market still has a long road to travel to rebalance supply and demand but these latest listings figures show that we are finally moving in the right direction.’[1]
[1] http://www.propertywire.com/news/europe/uk-new-homes-supply-2015101211079.html
