The analysis of property market transactions shows that in the last 12 months, just shy of 959,000 homes have sold across the UK property market. This marks a 2.4% increase when compared to the 12 months previous and height of the pandemic property market boom
Best performing markets
Northern Ireland has seen the strongest annual performance where sales volumes are concerned, climbing 21.3% over the last 12 months versus the 12 months beforehand. Wales (+15.8%) and Scotland (11.7%) have also performed well, with the North East (+5.3%), London (+2%) and the North West (+2%) the best performing regions of England.
At local authority level, the City of Aberdeen has been the hottest spot where the increase in property market activity is concerned. Sales levels have climbed by 36% annually, with Belfast (+31.9%), the City of London (+29.9%), Blackpool (+28.6%) and Boston (+28.2%) also making the list of largest annual sales increases.
Coming off the boil
However, not every area of the UK market has seen the pandemic property boom persist and there are already signs that market activity is starting to decline.
Regionally, the East of England (-2.7%), the South West (-1.9%), the South East (-1.8%) and the East Midlands (-0.3%) have all seen a decline in sales volumes over the last 12 months.
Ryedale tops the table at local authority level with a -22% decline, with Horsham (-20%), Mid Devon (-18%), Cotswold (-16%) and South Hams (-16%) also seeing some of the largest declines.
Director of Henry Dannell, Geoff Garrett, commented:
“The UK property market continues to perform very well overall and the volume of homes being sold in the last 12 months has climbed beyond that seen during the peak pandemic boom period.
However, there are signs that many areas have already started to come off the boil in this respect, with lower transaction levels being recorded.
This certainly doesn’t mean a crash is looming, but it does point to a market returning to normality after a rather sustained period of abnormally frantic activity.”
