July/August 2009:

'Even better for sellers than in the boom times' — Hamptons

A LEADING estate agency group claim that new properties to the market are three times as likely to sell as last year, when comparing new stock to property exchanges.

The latest findings by Hamptons International — comparing May this year to the same month in 2008 — also indicate that new vendors are 47 per cent more likely to sell their property than at the peak of the property market.

Year on year, the number of new applicants was up 40 per cent but new instructions to the market were down 31 per cent, meaning a major shift in the balance between supply and demand, distinctly in favour of sellers.

Hamptons also revealed that new applicant levels are now at 86% of those recorded at the height of the property market in 2007.

There are now double the number and value of sales so far this year compared to last year, but more stock is urgently needed to satisfy the increase in new buyers.

They also looked at average net sales over the past four years and found 2009 is now at the four-year average in terms of net sales levels. This includes the balanced market in 2005, the heated market in 2006, the boom of 2007 and the steep decline during 2008.

Phil Tennant, Hamptons International’s regional sales director, said: “This is really good news for sellers as statistically they now stand a significantly better chance of selling their property than at the peak of the market in 2007. These figures also demonstrate the continued recovery of confidence and growing activity in the property market.”