Scotland and Yorkshire have emerged as home to the UK’s most active housing markets so far in 2025, according to new research from The Property DriveBuy, highlighting the increasingly localised nature of housing demand.

Using the latest government data on residential sales volumes, The Property DriveBuy found that 504,180 homes have been sold across the UK so far this year, equating to a monthly average of 63,023 transactions.

At a regional level, the South East has recorded the highest number of sales, with 71,060 transactions to date, averaging 8,883 per month. The North West follows with 53,662 sales, ahead of the East of England with 48,408 and the South West with 46,823.

London has seen 46,424 transactions so far this year, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at 39,935, the West Midlands at 38,166, the East Midlands at 37,464 and the North East at 19,895.

However, when activity is examined at a local authority level, the most active markets are concentrated largely in Scotland and Yorkshire.

The City of Edinburgh has recorded the highest number of transactions in 2025 to date, with 7,351 sales, averaging 919 per month. Close behind is the City of Glasgow with 7,095 transactions.

Yorkshire accounts for two of the next highest-ranking authorities, with North Yorkshire seeing 5,466 sales and Leeds recording 5,451. Birmingham completes the top five, with 5,422 transactions.

Somerset, Cornwall, Fife, Buckinghamshire and South Lanarkshire round out the top ten most active local authority areas, each recording between 4,234 and 4,706 sales so far this year.

Steve Foreman, founder and chief executive of The Property DriveBuy, said: “What this data clearly shows is that the UK housing market in 2025 is anything but uniform, and not always predictable.

“While overall transaction volumes are averaging just over 60,000 per month, activity varies dramatically depending on location, with parts of Scotland and Yorkshire outperforming many traditionally dominant regions.

“This divergence is being driven by a combination of factors, including relative affordability, local employment strength, lifestyle appeal, and buyer migration away from higher-priced southern markets.

“For buyers, this means competition and pricing pressures can look very different just a few miles – perhaps even metres – apart, while for sellers it reinforces the importance of understanding true, hyper-local demand rather than relying on national headlines.

“In a market this fragmented, the ability to see where homes are becoming available has never been more important. Someone struggling to find a suitable property in one area could be just minutes away from their ideal home, but never know it if search tools are too restrictive.”