The UK housing market recorded £149bn worth of property sales in the first 15 weeks of 2021, equating to almost double the value of homes sold in the same period in both 2020 and 2019, according to the latest findings from Zoopla in its monthly House Price Index.

Fuelled by the enduring ‘search for space’ that emerged during the pandemic and shaped the market over the past 12 months, the rate of property sales has also doubled. One in every 50 homes were sold between 1 January and 15 April, up from one in every 100 homes during the same period last year. Running six weeks ahead of a typical year, this level of sales wouldn’t normally be achieved until the end of June.

Glasgow, Bristol, Nottingham, Stoke, and Middlesbrough are the top five busiest sales markets in the UK.

Annual house price growth was at 4% in March of this year, down from 4.5% recorded in January of this year. While this indicates a slight softening in the speed of growth (and the slowest rate of growth since October 2020), house prices remain almost double the 2.1% growth recorded in March 2020, upheld by a lack of supply coming to market. Meanwhile, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham and Leicester are all currently registering annual house price growth in excess of 5%.
 
Market depleted of family homes, with supply squeezed to a five-year low
The supply of new homes for sale has proved to be a casualty of the extreme market momentum, and in the first half of April, the number of homes available to buy was 30% lower than the level of stock recorded during the same period in the comparatively ‘normal’ markets of 2017-19.