North England sellers return to the market
Wednesday, 11 March 2009 3:33 PM
Sellers in the north of England have returned to the market in February, according to the property search engine Globrix.
Globrix says there was a 50.3 per cent increase in new instructions in February, with towns and cities in the north seeing the most new instructions.
In total, 91,659 new properties came onto the market last month compared to 60,978 new properties in January and 52,574 properties in December. The February figure was the largest number of new properties coming onto the market since April 2008.
Barnsley saw by far the largest percentage increase, of 476 per cent, in new instructions in February, with Norwich registering the second largest rise in new properties listed, at 320 per cent.
In terms of actual numbers, Manchester saw the most new instructions; registering 1,713 new properties in February compared to just 765 in January.
Daniel Lee, chief of Globrix, said: "Continued lending restrictions and general caution in light of the economic situation will prevent any sharp rise in transactions in the months ahead, but with mortgage rates very attractive for those with larger deposits and some of the major lenders committing to provide more loans, transaction numbers are likely to get stronger throughout 2009, albeit tentatively.
"The February spike will be due to a number of factors, including the usual spate of seasonal instructions in time for the Spring; an awareness on behalf of sellers that there is increased interest in the market and that they may now finally be able to achieve a sale; and desperate homeowners being forced to sell because they can no longer afford to keep up their mortgage repayments."
The top ten towns/cities in terms of percentage increase in new instructions from January to February, according to Globrix, were:
1. Barnsley
2. Norwich
3. Rotheram
4. Huddersfield
5. Bradford
6. Hull
7. Doncaster
8. Chester
9. Stockport
10. Leeds
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