Home Property Homebuyer demand driven upwards in Q4

Homebuyer demand driven upwards in Q4

by Seamus Doherty Property Reporter
14th Jan 25 7:16 am

The latest Homebuyer Hotspots Demand Index by estate agent comparison site,ย GetAgent.co.uk, reveals that, following a quarterly decline in Q3, buyer demand levels rallied in Q4, up 2% quarterly and sitting some 4.2% higher on an annual basis.

GetAgentโ€™s Hotspots Demand Index monitors homebuyer demand across England on a quarterly basis.

Current demand is based on the proportion of stock listed as already sold (sold subject to contract or under offer) as a percentage of all stock listed for sale. E.g, if 100 homes are listed and 50 are already sold, the demand score would be 50%.

National picture

The latest index shows that demand for sales homes in England stood at 45.9% in Q4 2024. This marks an increase of 2% on the previous quarter, with buyer appetites remaining +4.2% higher today versus Q4 of last year.

Quarterly increases

The English county to record the largest quarterly increase in sales demand was Hertfordshire where Q4 2024 saw a demand uptick of +4.8% compared to Q3.

Surrey ranked as the second hottest spot of the market on a quarterly basis, with demand having increased by +4.6%, with Bristol (+4.4%), Wiltshire (+4.1%) and West Sussex (+3.8%).

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Essex also make the top 10 with respect to the highest increases in quarterly buyer demand levels.

Annual picture

When comparing the current market to this time last year, Bedfordshire has seen the largest annual increase in demand, up 10.4% in Q4, 2024 versus Q4, 2023.

Leicestershire (+8.4%), Cheshire (+7.2%), Northamptonshire (+6.9%) and Tyne and Wear (+6.9%) also rank within the top five largest annual increases.

Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, said, โ€œ2024 proved to be a positive year for the property market, however, we simply didnโ€™t see the reduction in interest rates expected and this meant that mortgage rates remained far higher than todayโ€™s buyers have become accustomed to in recent years.

Whilst this will have certainly continued to restrict homebuyers financially, it certainly didnโ€™t dampen their enthusiasm and weโ€™ve seen the market rally in Q4, with an increase in demand levels pretty much across the board.

Of course, one significant reason for this will be the Autumn Budget and the stamp duty deadline imposed as a result of the governmentโ€™s failure to extend current relief thresholds. We expect this will continue to drive demand over the coming months, with a correction seen in Q2 of next year, albeit this correction should only be momentary.โ€

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