easyMoney’s quarterly gauge of buyer appetite for new homes looks at demand for current property listings across the nation’s major cities, based on the percentage of new-build properties listed for sale that have already gone under offer or sold subject to contract.
The latest figures show that currently, a fifth of all new-build homes listed for sale across Britain have already found a buyer, up 0.7% compared to Q1. However, current cooling market conditions remain clear with new-build demand remaining 14.% down versus the second quarter of last year.
In terms of the highest current demand, Southampton tops the table with 45% of all new-build currently on the market having already found a buyer, closely followed by Bristol (44%) and Bournemouth (42%).
Bristol has also seen the largest quarterly increase in new-build buyer demand, up 15% versus Q1 of this year, along with Southampton (+7%) and Leicester (+4%).
Of the 20 major cities analysed by easyMoney, just Leeds (+3), Cardiff (+3%), Swansea (+2%), Edinburgh (+1%) and Newcastle (+0.3%) have also seen positive quarterly growth where buyer demand for new homes is concerned.
Birmingham has seen the largest quarterly reduction, with a drop of -6%.
On an annual basis, all but one major city has seen a reduction in new-build buyer demand when compared to the hotter market conditions of Q2, 2022.
Leicester has seen an annual increase of 6%, while at the other end of the table, Cardiff has seen the largest annual decline of the other 19 cities in the list, with demand falling -24% year on year.
Jason Ferrando, CEO of easyMoney says: “We’ve certainly seen more uncertain market conditions materialise since the end of last year, with buyers acting with a greater degree of caution following the mortgage market turbulence that followed the mini budget in September.
"This has been no different across the new-build market and all but one city has seen a reduction in demand when compared to the far stronger conditions seen this time last year.
"However, 2023 has certainly started with an air of optimism and we’re now seeing this start to filter through, with demand picking up ever so slightly in the second quarter of this year when compared to Q1.
"It will be interesting to see if this positive movement is maintained during what is traditionally the busiest time of year for the market given that the economic landscape remains a turbulent one, at best.”
