TwentyCi: ‘It is a great time to be a buyer’

It’s a great time to be a homebuyer if purchasers can afford it, TwentyCi has claimed.

It comes as the property data company’s latest Homemover Pulse blog for September showed there are 640,016 residential properties for sale. 5,162 more properties than reported in August.

The figures show there were 4,657 fewer properties Sold Subject to Contract than in August, however, exchanges increased with 11,233 more properties exchanged in June, July and August at 203,588 compared to May, June and July when there were 192,355.

The South East remains the highest-performing region with 29,355 property completions recorded, according to TwentyCi.

This is followed by the North West, with 22,541 completions. Yorkshire and the Humber had the largest jump in completions with a 9% rise in June, July and August compared to May, June and July.

Stuart Ducker, strategic solutions director at TwentyCi, said: “It’s great to see that despite the challenging economic circumstances our nation currently finds itself faced with, the housing market is proving to be resilient. 

“In contrast to the stock shortage that we observed in 2021 and the first three quarters of 2022, there is now significantly more choice for buyers, particularly at the mid to high price levels.

“Whilst availability of housing stock for sale is increasing, we recognise that the affordability of this stock has worsened over the past few months. 

“We remain hopeful that increasing competition for new customers by UK lenders will in part ease this burden on buyers. After all, private renting has become significantly less financially attractive over the last few years with rents higher than they have ever been.

“If buyers can afford the monthly payments of current mortgage interest rates, it’s a great time to buy as the longer-term outlook for UK house prices remains positive due to the general lack of housing stock.”