House sales in January were slower than expected, according to the latest Agency Express Property Activity Index. The firm suggests this was the result of the long period of winterly weather in December and over the New Year.

However, it has also reported that the start of a new year has seen a significant hike in the number of properties being put on the market.

The results of the latest survey show that house sales in January fell by 4.7% compared to the number sold in December. This is very similar to what happened last year when Arctic weather conditions disrupted house viewings resulting in a low number of sales in January. However, there was encouraging news as the number of properties on which sales were agreed was still up 25.7% on January 2010 and 13.4% on January 2009.

Three regions recorded positive uplifts in monthly property sales in January. The North East saw an increase of 7.5%, Yorkshire was up 3.8% and the South East rose 1.8%. The three worst performing regions were the North West which saw an 18.3% decline, the South West which had a 15.1% drop and London where sales fell by 14.0%.

Only 5 cities had an increase in January house sales – Bristol (+75.0%), Birmingham (+68.0%), Cardiff (+34.4%), Southampton (+12.5%) and Newcastle (3.1%).

The positive news for the market was the 51.5% increase in the amount of properties that were put up ‘For Sale’. This is up 34.3% on last January and 25.7% up on January 2009.

The three regions which had the greatest increase in the number of properties put on the market in January were the North East with an increase of 104.9%, Central England with a rise of 87.5% and East Anglia with an uplift of 61.6%.

Seven cities saw the number of new ‘For Sale’ instructions at least double in January compared to December. They were Nottingham (+225.0%), Bristol (+135.0%), Southampton (+115.4%), Birmingham (+114.6%), Brighton (+113.6%), Leeds (+111.6%) and Newcastle (+109.6%).

Stephen Watson, managing director of Agency Express, said: “Without doubt