"Interest rates simply haven’t fallen as quickly as many buyers may have hoped, so there remains a sense of buyer hesitation across the market"
- Colby Short - GetAgent
GetAgent’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
Demand for sales homes in England stood at 43.9% in Q3 2024. This marks a decline of -0.3% since the previous quarter, but buyer appetite remains +2.6% higher today than it was this time last year.
The English county with the highest level of homebuyer demand is Bristol where, in Q3 2024, 61.4% of all for sale properties were sold subject to contract.
This is followed by Bedfordshire (53.6%), Tyne & Wear (52.7%), South Yorkshire (52.6%), and Berkshire (49.7%).
Quarterly increases
The English county to record the largest quarterly increase in sales demand was Bedfordshire where Q3 2024 saw a demand uptick of +1.8% compared to Q2.
In both Durham and Tyne & Wear, the number of homes sold subject to contract increased by +1.2% while Somerset and Oxfordshire both saw increases of +1.1%.
While good to see, none of these increases match the level of quarterly growth England’s best performing counties recorded in the previous quarter (Q2 2024).
Annual picture
Nationwide buyer demand is looking stronger than it did this time last year, with +2.6% more homes sold subject to contract across England. But the annual boost is significantly stronger in some counties.
Bedfordshire has seen an incredible annual increase of +10.2% as buyers demonstrate a strong appetite for the local market.
Demand in Buckinghamshire has recorded an annual boost of +5.7%, followed by Tyne & Wear (+5.5%), Leicestershire (+5.3%), and South Yorkshire (+5.1%).
Co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented: “Following Q2’s promising boost in homebuyer demand, it’s disappointing to see it drop off again in Q3, especially considering that we all expected to see a bit of a surge following the general election and the newfound level of certainty that this was expected to provide.
"But interest rates simply haven’t fallen as quickly as many buyers may have hoped, so there remains a sense of buyer hesitation across the market.
"However, this is unlikely to last following the first rate cut in four years in August and we expect demand to now begin to strengthen, particularly as we head into Q4 and what is typically a busy time of year for the market.
"We can also be optimistic about the fact that while quarterly demand has stuttered, buyer appetite is better today than it was last year, which means the market is headed in the right direction.”
