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‘House hunters out in force’, say estate agents

Thursday, 18 June Writes Hazel Cottrell hazel.cottrell@consumerchoices.co.uk

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There are now four house hunters for every property, according to the National Association of Estate Agents.

Demand for property is outstripping supply according to estate agents who are registering interest from four house hunters per every available house.

“There are potential bargains to be found ”

In May, the average estate agency branch had 299 house hunters on its books and 69 properties for sale, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) (www.naea.co.uk).

For the second month running, estate agents also said sales had gone up. The average branch sold 10 properties - double the average sold last August.

Gary Smith, president of the NAEA said “there are buyers a-plenty out there. More often than not these are also potential sellers who are at the beginning of the process - so there is bound to be a lag, creating a shortage of properties in the short-term.”

Chris Eagle, commercial manager at CreditChoices.co.uk, said: “While reports of increased buyer interest are encouraging, it’s worth bearing in mind that while sellers are likely to register their property with only one estate agent, house hunters are likely to register their interest with a number of estate agents, so these figures may be skewed by overlap.”

There have been several other reports this week that suggest cautious optimism is returning to the housing market.

According to a survey by the Building Societies Association (BSA) (www.bsa.org.uk) people believe on average that house prices will rise by 1.4% over the next year and 59% agree or tend to agree that now is a good time to buy.

Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, said: “People clearly recognise that with both property prices and mortgage rates having fallen, there are potential bargains to be found meaning that now is a good time to buy.”