Why are homes flying off the shelves in Scotland?

Why are homes flying off the shelves in Scotland?


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The two biggest Scottish cities – Edinburgh and Glasgow – are currently the fastest places to sell a property, with homes in these locations coming off the market more than two months quicker than popular southern cities like London and Brighton, new research has revealed.

According to the latest findings provided by Barclays Mortgages and Hometrack analysis of Zoopla listings data, homes across the UK are taking on average 84 days to sell (12 weeks), nine days longer than last year.

The picture across the UK is mixed, however, with areas such as Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Cardiff and Wolverhampton showing improving market conditions.

But it’s Scotland which has the fastest property market in which to sell a home, with the research revealing it takes just over one month to sell a home in Edinburgh and Glasgow, 31 days and 39 days respectively. That said, homes here were selling about a week faster last year.

In the Welsh capital, Cardiff, it takes one week less than last year to sell a property, with homes spending on average 60 days (or 8.5 weeks) on the market.

A combination of infrastructure investment, a large student population, significant job creation for 2020 and below national average house prices have all helped to speed up sales.

Newcastle and Middlesbrough are home to the most improving housing markets, where properties are taking 19 and 16 days less to sell than last year (2.7 and 2.2 weeks).

Other cities where homes are spending less time on the property market include: Liverpool (13 days or 1.9 weeks), Cardiff (6 days or 0.9 weeks), Wolverhampton (5 days or 0.8 weeks) and Bradford (4 days or 0.6 weeks).

The housing markets in Birmingham and Sheffield, by contrast, have remained mostly static.

When it comes to areas displaying slowdowns, homes in Derby have experienced the biggest rise in time spent on the property market. Properties in the East Midlands city take almost one third longer to sell compared to last year, an increase of more than 34 days (4.8 weeks).

Overall, homes in Middlesbrough still spend the longest amount of time on the market (114 days/16.3 weeks), down from 130 days last year, partly due to the disproportionate number of buy-to-let properties affected by tax changes and also consistently low demand.

Deprivation and a lack of job opportunities generally make places like Middlesbrough less appealing to buyers, although there are signs of regeneration taking place to boost a town more affected by the decline of industry than most.

Hannah Bernard, head of mortgages at Barclays, said: “The property market has many components to it which can make it tricky to navigate especially for first-time buyers. We want to help our customers become more knowledgeable about the overall market and provide a guide for them to make the most informed decisions they can when deciding to move home.”

She added: “Our research not only shows the changes in the market over the past year, but also acts as a predictor to what we might be able to expect in the months to come.”

“By looking at the time of sale, prospective buyers and sellers can have a better overall knowledge of the time it may take to sell their home and where in the UK the changes are,” Bernard concluded. “Our aim is to make sure customers are confident in the decisions they make as well as aware and prepared for the financial implications associated with moving home.”

You can see the full table below.

Region

Time to sell in days (weeks)

(July 2019)

Time to sell in days (weeks)

(July 2018)

Year-on-Year difference in days (weeks)

Great Britain

84

(12.0)

75

(10.7)

9

(+1.3)

Edinburgh

31

(4.4)

26

(3.7)

5

(+0.7)

Glasgow

39

(5.5)

33

(4.7)

6

(+0.8)

Birmingham

59

(8.4)

58

(8.3)

1

(+0.1)

Leeds

59

(8.4)

53

(7.6)

6

(+0.8)

Wolverhampton

59

(8.4)

64

(9.2)

-5

(-0.8)

Cardiff

60

(8.5)

66

(9.4)

-6

(-0.9)

Nottingham

60

(8.5)

47

6.7)

13

(+1.8)

Hull

62

(8.9)

44

6.3)

18

(+2.6)

Manchester

62

(8.9)

60

(8.5)

2

(+0.4)

Liverpool

63

(9.0)

76

(10.9

-13

(-1.9)

Sheffield

64

(9.2)

64

(9.1)

0

(+0.1)

Swansea

64

(9.2)

61

(8.7)

3

(+0.5)

Bristol

66

(9.4)

55

(7.9)

11

(+1.5)

Newcastle

82

(11.7)

101

(14.4)

-19

(-2.7)

Bradford

88

(12.6)

92

(13.2)

-4

(-0.6)

Brighton

92

(13.1)

80

(11.4)

12

(+1.7)

Derby

99

(14.1)

65

(9.3)

34

(+4.8)

Sunderland

104

(14.8)

91

(13.0)

13

(+1.8)

London

107

(15.3)

95

(13.6)

12

(+1.7)

Middlesbrough

114

(16.3)

130

(18.5)

-16

(-2.2)

Source: Hometrack N.B. data was supplied in weeks, days are approximate.

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