Housing Market Update: Spring Blossoms Across The Housing Market
It’s one of the busiest times of the year in the housing market, so unsurprisingly there’s plenty to talk about. And for once, much of it seems decent news! Let’s dive in.
Housing market sales figures
The latest housing market figures from Propertymark show an uplift in the average number of new prospective buyers registered at each branch. The number is now at around 113. A month earlier, the figure was just 81 per branch, so that’s one positive trend.
Likewise, there’s been a helpful rise in the number of actual transactions. These are the deals between buyers and sellers. However, it’s worth remembering that these figures refer to March. There was a surge of activity by first-time buyers. They pushed deals through to take advantage of a short-term stamp duty reduction, which has now expired.
Even so, there’s plenty of other positive data, applying to the whole market and not just first-timers.
The market picks up, delays remain
On average, there were around 13.5 homes listed for sale per member branch in March 2025, up from 10.7 the month before. The typical number of market appraisals staged by each agency branch held steady at 24. That’s a good indicator of future supply as the owners weigh up the details of the appraisal. In some cases, they put their home on the market.
Despite the figures relating to some weeks ago, the same trends have come through in more recent analyses, particularly by Rightmove and Zoopla. Those broad headlines are: transaction volumes, demand, and supply, all consistently up compared to this time in 2024. Meanwhile, prices are rising only very slightly.
And they’re backed up by mortgage figures from the lenders’ body, UK Finance.
These show an increase in gross mortgage advances, which really means the number of buyers. There is also a slight increase in the value of new mortgage commitments. This shows they feel capable of borrowing slightly more to get the homes they want.
But one less optimistic stat from the sales market has to be borne in mind.
The time taken to exchange remains high; the data suggests that it takes 16 weeks or more in some 25% of purchases. We all know that’s too high, but it’s a reality. Therefore, it’s vital to ensure you are well prepared. Whether you’re buying, selling or both, lack of preparation will only add to potential delays.
The rental market data
Unusually, there’s some improvement in the rental sector statistics. Although not enough to alter the depressingly predictable truth that demand outstrips supply. This leads to higher rents on already hard-pressed renters.
The data suggests that in March, the number of new listings of properties to rent showed a helpful 12.7% jump. That’s the good news. However, there’s been a leap, too, in the number of renters registering with agents looking for homes. That rise is around 7%.
So, this market balance is less bad than before, but still isn’t great nevertheless.
It’s difficult to know for sure how this sector will be hit by the Renters Rights Bill set to become law this summer. The Bill includes genuinely good news for renters. However, many of the costs associated with the improvements fall on landlords.
If more landlords quit (and many have already), this will reduce the rental stock even further. This would make that unbalanced state of play even worse.
However, let’s leave the lettings sector on a slightly positive note. There’s been just a very slight rise in the number of renters in arrears. Even so, the total is still well below the level seen throughout 2023. It is also far below the long-term norm.
Lots of interest in rates
A significant factor in the coming months will be the interest rate. This is determined by the Bank of England at upcoming meetings in June, August and September.
The hot money is on rate reductions. We might see two or even three more by Christmas. In preparation, many lenders have already cut the rates of some mortgage products. It’s certainly a competitive time in the mortgage market. That should create buyer confidence to take us through until the end of summer.
I’ve been around too long to make a prediction beyond that. The autumn is likely to see a temporary rise in inflation and a government Budget, so let’s not count our chickens yet!
However, it’s a buoyant market for sales in particular. Analysts say there should be 1.15m sales this year, up by 10% on 2024. By June, when I give my next report, we should know more about whether that forecast is coming true. Until then….
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Last Updated: May 14th, 2025
