The number of sales agreed last month were up 8.2% on December 2009 and 56.5% greater than December 2008, according to Agency Express.
Despite a fall in monthly UK house sales of 26.7% in December 2010 compared to November – in line with the historic trend of a significant dip in house sales activity at the year end – last month was still 32% busier than January 2010.
Activity still remains low relative to the boom years, but the number of properties put up for sale is trending upwards at 22.5% higher than December 2009 and 37.1% more than December 2008.
Stephen Watson, managing director, Agency Express, said: “2010 has certainly been a fascinating year for house sales activity. So many factors have had an effect on home owner and house buyer sentiment that it’s difficult to draw too many firm conclusions about what 2011 will bring.
“January has traditionally seen a significant uplift in properties being put on the market so we will be closely monitoring the findings of our Index for signs of evidence of an increase in activity over the next few weeks”.
The North East, Wales and Central England regions fared best in December for house sales with falls of 13.0%, 18.8% and 19.6% respectively.
At the other end of the scale and for cities, Coventry had the worst monthly decline in the number of house sales at -53.3%. Glasgow saw a drop of 43.7% and York had a 42.5% fall.
In terms of new properties coming onto the market there were consistent falls across all regions.
Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds fared the best with the number of properties ready for sale falling 20.0%, 22.1% and 25.3% respectively. Newcastle saw the most striking falls in the number of properties being put up ‘For Sale’ with a 59.1% fall with Glasgow -55.8% and York 52.4% not far behind.
