Yahoo Finance Quarter of homes selling within a week of coming to market
A quarter of homes put on the market last month sold in under a week as unprecedented demand continued to propel asking prices to record heights.
The number of properties selling in fewer than seven days in March was the highest ever recorded by property website Rightmove.
Frenzied demand is still far outpacing supply in what has been described as the strongest sellers' market in a decade, with more than nine new applicants registering for every property for sale in the UK.
Semi-detached houses with two or three bedrooms are selling the quickest, according to Rightmove, with 30pc marked as sold after less than a week. On average across the UK, homes are being snapped up within 45 days of being put on the market.
The surging level of demand among buyers has put power with vendors, pushing up the average asking price 2.1pc between March and April, hitting £327,797. Changes to asking prices reflect not what homes are eventually sold for, but how sellers see their position in the market.
Tim Bannister, of Rightmove, attributed the price surge to buyers prioritising more space, as well as cheaper mortgages, the stamp duty holiday extension, Government support for 5pc deposit mortgages and a supply shortage.
Richard Freshwater, of estate agency Cheffins, said the lack of stock was the biggest he had seen in 20 years.
"On average, every house we put on the market at the moment sees over 40 requests for viewings, all from buyers who are in the position to move.
"This level of interest is throughout the market at all price levels, with demand for large country homes at the same rate as the more affordable, smaller city-based options," he added.
It comes as the most expensive areas of central London, which bore the brunt of the market drops last year, recorded a surge in activity in March. Separate research by property analysts LonRes found new instructions in London’s prime housing market were 72pc higher last month than in March 2020. Exchanges in the first quarter of 2021 were also 40pc higher than those in the same three months last year.
While all price brackets in prime London saw an annual increase in sales, the sub-£1m market was the busiest.
Marcus Dixon, of LonRes, said: "This is unsurprising given this is where the biggest saving, as a proportion of total buying costs, was to be made [with the stamp duty break].
"But the top end of the market did well too. Despite travel restrictions still being in place, limiting overseas buyer demand and the stamp duty holiday being of less financial importance we saw transactions rise in this market as well."
