The number of detached properties exchanging in the third quarter increased by 36%, according to the latest report from data firm TwentyCi.
The report found that terraced and semi-detached houses continued to make up the largest proportion of property sales, comprising over 50% of all exchanges every quarter, reflecting the core UK housing stock.
While new instructions are up 2.5% year on year, if this exchange growth persists, the lack of available housing stock coming to market may frustrate buyers, TwentyCi said.
TwentyCi’s chief customer officer, Colin Bradshaw, said that 2018 has seen a significant increase in the number of home buyers and sellers finalising their transactions.
He added: “Whilst this is good news for those in the home moving journey, the lacklustre volume of properties coming to market has the potential to thwart demand.
“This in turn has the potential to push up prices as demand outstrips supply, particularly with the most desirable properties and within the most desirable areas.
“Equally of course, with the uncertainty over prices and the ability to purchase post Brexit as people bide their time to see how the markets react we could likewise see demand falling away leading to a fall in prices.”
Online estate agents
The market share of online estate agents revealed an unexpected 6% fall in all residential exchanges compared to the second quarter, representing an overall market share of 7.2%.
Colin Bradshaw said that due to the continuing investment in advertising by online agents one might have expected their market share growth to have continued to climb, so this fall in their number of exchanges is unexpected.
New build booms in London
The report found that the percentage of housing stock available to buy as new builds varies widely across the UK.
In Manchester new builds represented over 7% of housing stock, while Cardiff was under 4%.
In major cities, one third of housing stock available in the third quarter was rental, while in London this has risen to two thirds of all properties, reflecting the type of housing tenure available and the lack of affordability in the capital.
Friday remains the most popular day of the week to complete on a property, with nearly half of all moves at the end of the week in 2018, and just 10% taking place on Tuesdays.
