Latest property news roundup

In April, the number of property sales agreed per estate agency branch increased to the highest level seen since October, according to new data.

The number of sales agreed per member branch increased for the first time this year, seeing a rise from an average of seven per branch in March, to eight in April – the highest level seen since October 2018, when the same number of sales were recorded per branch.

Locally in Ashford we have had our best sales month so far this year in 2019, and exchanges also our best month with two days to go.

The number of sales made to FTB’s in April also increased, rising from 26% in March, to 27% - year-on-year, this is an increase of three percentage points from 24%.

New data has also revealed that buyers are negotiating harder on price resulting in a 3.9% widening in the difference between asking and selling prices - the gap between average asking prices to average achieved prices increased in Q1 2019 across nearly all (16) cities, compared to 2018.

In London the average differential between asking price and selling price has increased from 4.8% in 2018 to 5.7% today. Overall, house prices increased by 1.7% over the 12 months to April 2019.

Also, analysis has shown that there was a marked improvement in the percentage of mortgage applications which led to an offer during the first three months of 2019.

According to the newly released data, brokers converted more than 89% of applications into offers, the highest percentage recorded since the index began in Q1 2016. This was an increase of almost one percentage point on Q4 2018’s numbers, and two percentage points annually.

The share of Buy-To-Let and specialist loan applications that led to offers both showed a marked improvement. The tracker found that 89% of BTL applications resulted in an offer, while 91% of specialist applications did the same reaching a three-year high.

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