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House sales up 38% in February
House sales in February increased 38.3% on January to their highest level since November 2010, new figures have shown.
Research by Agency Express revealed house sales were down 26.2% on February last year, but up 14.0% on February 2009.
All regions of the country recorded significant increases in house sales, with Scotland leading the way with a hike in sales of 62.1% last month. It was followed by Greater London, with sales up 64.1%.
The region with the lowest improvement in house sales was the North East which saw an increase of 15% in the February.
Agency Express revealed that Leicester, Glasgow and Coventry all doubled the amount of house sales they achieved last month.
Leicester sales went up by 140%, Glasgow saw a rise of 114.3% and Coventry leapt 100%
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The three cities that experienced a decline in house sales were Edinburgh at -5.7%, Colchester at -5.6% and Nottingham at -2.6%.
The number of properties being put on the market saw a monthly rise of 27.7% in February, but was 6.4% lower than the monthly average over the last 50 months.
Stephen Watson, managing director at Agency Express, said: “Activity in February has built on the improving positions we saw in January.
“Better weather conditions certainly helped the situation and we could be seeing people moving and securing a fixed rate mortgage now before interest rates start to go up as expected in the next few months.”
He added that the increase in for sale signs in February showed a gradual recovery in the housing market.