Three-quarters of buyers in the UK said they were confident they would purchase a property within the next three months, according to the latest Property Sentiment Index from OnTheMarket.

The property portal also found that 82% of sellers in the UK were confident they’d sell their property within the next three months.

And it said that 61% of properties were Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC) within 30 days of first being advertised for sale.

Mortgage matters

In May, only 4% of movers were concerned (either very worried or slightly concerned) about securing a mortgage to fund the purchase of their next property, unchanged when compared to April 2022 (4%).

Nearly a quarter (24%) of movers hadn’t considered applying for a mortgage before starting their property search, with buyers in Greater London the least likely to have thought about getting a mortgage before starting their search for a property (30%).

A third of buyers said that they didn’t need a mortgage in order to purchase a property.

Jason Tebb, chief executive officer of OnTheMarket, said: “A remarkable level of buyer and seller confidence in the housing market prevailed in May, despite considerable headwinds including soaring inflation and another interest rate hike by the Bank of England.

“Against this backdrop, evidence is emerging of a rise in the number of new instructions, suggesting the start of an inevitable rebalancing of supply and demand in the market. Yet this process will take time, and until then, the ‘new normal’, an elevated version of the pre-pandemic market continues, although regional differences in sentiment show that ‘one size does not fit all’.