Property sales doubled in February

The number of property transactions doubled between January and February this year.

According to the latest Agency Express Property Activity Index the number of twice the number sold in January, and the highest level of sales recoded for almost two years, since March 2008.

The North East saw the greatest number of property sales since the peak of the market in mid-2007; more homes changed hands in London in February than they had since October 2007, and sales numbers for the North West were higher than they had been since November 2007.

Agency Express, the country’s largest supplier of ‘For Sale’ boards, reports that every region except Central England enjoyed significant month on month increases in house sales with the North West (152.4%), East Anglia (125.6%), London (123.5%), the South West (122.6%) and the South East (120.8%) all seeing sales activity more than double that seen in January.

Looking at towns and cities, Nottingham enjoyed the biggest leap at 206.3% - with monthly house sales trebling compared to January. Other notable rises, where house sales at least doubled, were seen in Manchester (168.4%), Oxford (147.3%), Cambridge (140.2%), Milton Keynes (134.2%), Colchester (128.1%), Glasgow (111.1%), Coventry (110.3%), Norwich (109.8%), Newcastle (107.6%) and Carlisle (103.3%).

Agency Express concludes that the arctic conditions at the start of the year, coupled with the rush to buy before the end of the Stamp Duty holiday on December 31st, served to subdue property sales in January.

But it claims the unexpectedly huge boost in sales in February is proof positive that the housing market is recovering more quickly than anticipated.

Stephen Watson, managing director of Agency Express, says:

“After a pretty slow start to the year it appears that the British public is not prepared to sit around and wait any longer.

“While we expected February to be a better month for house sales than January, the levels we have seen have exceeded our expectations. It appears that the growing economic optimism has permeated the housing market and people are making the decision to move.

“We are now seeing house sales nearly match those levels we last saw two years ago and the strength of activity bodes well for the coming months”

Across the UK there was a 91.5% increase in the number of boards going up compared to January and compared to February last year, there was an increase of 64.9%.