"As always confidence and sentiment underpin the market and while sales have increased a lot since last year, many prospective buyers will still be holding back until after Labour’s Budget which is now just weeks away"
- Katy Billany - TwentyEA
The UK-wide research showed 332,200 sales were agreed in Q3 24, which was 23% above 269,225 in Q3 23.
This indicates that growth in transactions will continue into 2025 and shows that demand has remained unaffected by July’s parliamentary election.
All regions saw an uplift in sales agreed throughout the quarter, with the East of England and the East Midlands both experiencing increases of 28% compared with Q3 23. In terms of major cities that have benefited, Southampton, Peterborough and Birmingham saw the biggest percentage rises.
Supply
At the same time, the supply of properties for sale for Q3 24 is higher than at any point in the last six years at 456,902, up from 419,807 in Q3 23 - a rise of 9%. Exchanges are also up by 10.9% compared to Q3 2023 as the market continues to bounce back.
Katy Billany, Executive Director of TwentyEA said: “The increase in sales is attributed to lower mortgage rates, which have fuelled a rise in demand among homebuyers. The Bank of England's recent move to hold the base rate steady has also provided stability to the market. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the demand has not been affected by July’s parliamentary election.
"However, for some homeowners, the financial duress brought about by fixed-rate mortgages will be forcing a sale based on unaffordability.”
Prices
The average asking price of residential properties for sale across the UK in Q3 2024 was £436K, up by £1.8k from Q3 2023 (0.4%) but notably down £20K from Q2 – a figure that reflects the mix of property stock coming to the market as a New Instruction and not necessarily the price realised.
Price reductions on listings have been a key market feature in 2023 and 2024 and have increased by 8.6% from 2023, suggesting sellers continue to expect unrealistic prices in certain markets. Price reduction rates increased everywhere in the UK, except for Inner London, which saw just a 1% reduction. At the other end of the spectrum, Scotland’s price reduction rate rose from 18% in 2023 to 21% in 2024.
Of all listings that have ended in 2024 to date, 38% had at least one price reduction. This figure was 36% in 2023 and 24% in 2022.
Billany added: “As always confidence and sentiment underpin the market and while sales have increased a lot since last year, many prospective buyers will still be holding back until after Labour’s Budget which is now just weeks away. Exactly how this impacts property owners will dictate whether the market continues to accelerate”.
BTL properties
The number of properties for sale across the UK that were previously rented at some point in the last three years has risen considerably over the last year and has reached its highest level in a decade.
In Q3 2024, 11.3% of all new properties listed for sale were found to have been available to rent at some point in the last three years. This number has increased considerably from 6.8% in Q3 2023 and from 8.9% in Q3 2019.
In absolute numbers, a total of 456,902 properties came to market in Q3 24 across the UK, of which 51,684 were previously rented. In Q3 23, 419,807 properties were listed for sale with 28,507 having been prior rentals. In Q3 2019, 416,752 homes came to market and 36,964 had been previously let.
The analysis showed this trend was most prevalent in Inner London. In Q3 2024, 47.2% of all new for-sale properties had been previously let, compared with 27.1% the previous year.
While the trend is highly concentrated in Inner London, new figures show how every region of the UK saw an influx of previously rented properties into the sales market across July, August and September this year, compared with Q3 23.
In the last ‘normal’ market of 2019, the figures show a similar picture with all regions having seen an uplift in the percentage of previously rented homes for sale with the exception of Scotland and Wales.
Hybrid agents and self-employed
In Q3 24, the market share of exchanges among self-employed agents grew by 8.1%, while year-on-year growth was 22.8%. Since 2019, the self-employed market share of exchanges has grown more than 7.5 times, demonstrating how these agents are successfully selling their instructions.
In comparison to Q3 2023, the market share of exchanges for self-employed agents has increased across all property price brackets. This growth is strongest for properties over £200,000, and the self-employed model seems to be making inroads into the £1 million-plus price band with a 44% uplift year on year.
Except for the North East, self-employed agents have seen their market share of exchanges increase between Q3 2023 and Q3 2024 in every region of the country, with the South West, Scotland and the West Midlands all seeing growth of over 50%. In Q3 24 their market share was highest in the Yorkshire & The Humber and the East Midlands, although growth in those regions was more modest. The North East and East of England are the regions where market share was lowest.
Billany concluded: “Adoption of the self-employed model, through brands such as eXp, The Agency UK, and Keller Williams, is continuing to grow among estate agents, with a 22.8% rise from 2023. As a collective, self-employed agents are now larger than the two biggest estate agency brands, Purplebricks and William H Brown, suggesting that the benefits of being self-employed are attracting more agents.”
