"The higher cost of borrowing and wider market uncertainty have caused many buyers to reevaluate their position in the market and their intentions to purchase, which has caused the market to slow"
- Chris Hodgkinson - House Buyer Bureau
Property purchasing specialist, House Buyer Bureau, has found that London is home to the lowest level of turnover when it comes to the number of homes sold over the last five years, with Leicester ranking bottom outside of the capital.
House Buyer Bureau analysed the number of homes sold over the last five years across each area of England and what this equates to as percentage of total dwellings, to reveal the areas with the lowest level of housing market churn.
The research shows that across England as a whole, the total number of homes sold in the last five years equates to 15.7% of the total housing stock.
At the regional level, London has been the slowest market, where by far the fewest properties have changed hands over the last five years, equating to just 11.6% of total stock.
Digging deeper into the data, the slowest markets by local authority are dominated by London boroughs - Accounting for 16 of the top 20.
The worst offender is Brent in the northwest of the city, where just 7.2% of stock was bought and sold in the last five years, signalling that it’s the toughest market in the nation for sellers to secure a buyer.
It’s a similar story in Newham (8.1%), Westminster (8.1%) Camden (8.4%) and Kensington and Chelsea (8.7%).
Outside of London, it’s Leicester where sellers are likely to struggle most in their search for a potential buyer.
Just 10.3% of total housing market stock has changed hands over the last five years, with Slough (10.7%), Oxford (10.9%), Cambridge (11.4%) and Sandwell (11.5%) also making the top five.
Managing Director of House Buyer Bureau, Chris Hodgkinson, commented: “The key to a successful sale in any market is the ability to find a buyer and this has been the biggest factor impacting the property market in recent months. The higher cost of borrowing and wider market uncertainty have caused many buyers to reevaluate their position in the market and their intentions to purchase, which has caused the market to slow.
"However, as our research shows, some areas of the market are already home to a far lower churn when it comes to the proportion of housing stock changing hands and it’s these areas where sellers are most likely to struggle in current market conditions.”
