The number of houses sold in May was up 4.7% on the previous month’s figures and reached the highest level seen since May last year, according to the latest Agency Express Property Activity Index.
Agency Express is the UK’s largest ‘For Sale’ board company with one in four boards being erected and serviced by its franchisees.
It reported that house sales were 2.0% fewer than May 2010 but up 14.7% on May 2009 and 18.6% up on May 2008.
The recovery was led in the main by activity recorded in the North of England and the Midlands. The North East saw growth in houses sold of 16.7% just ahead of the North West which saw a rise of 16.6%. In Yorkshire monthly sales were up 10.6% and in Central England they rose 10.0%. However, there was a drop in sales of -16.4% in Scotland with the South East seeing a fall of -7.4% and the South West decreasing -5.5%.
Coventry was the city that experienced greatest growth in house sales at 13.0% followed by Carlisle with 12.8%, Brighton at 11.1%, Bristol with 10.0% and Manchester with 5.3%. Edinburgh had the worst drop in sales in the UK with -14.3%. Leicester also saw a big drop of 9.1%.
In the UK the number of new ‘For Sale’ instructions in May were up 1.7% eradicating the -0.5% drop seen in April. They reached their highest level since August last year although they are down -6.0% on May 2010. However, the number of properties put on the market in May was 40.5% greater than May two years ago.
Most regions recorded an increase in the number of new ‘For Sale’ instructions with the North East leading the way with a rise of 10.6%. Wales saw a shrinkage in supply of properties of -5.4%.
Coventry again led the way for growth with an 8.7% increase in houses put on the market followed by Newcastle with a rise of 7.9% and Leeds with a 5.5% rise.
Stephen Watson, managing director, Agency Express, said: “It’s good to see that the drop in activity seen in April – that we can attribute to the plethora of holidays – has now been more than compensated for with decent increases in both the number of houses sold and the amount of new ‘For Sale’ instructions. The dry
