By James Lockett

Estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has released its latest Homebuyer Demand Hotspots Index of the year, revealing how the market has performed across the UK’s major cities during the first quarter of 2020. 

GetAgent’s Hotspots Index is a quarterly look at homebuyer demand levels in each major UK city. The index is based on the number of properties that are already marked as sold subject to contract or under offer as a percentage of all homes listed across the major property portals. For example, if 100 homes are listed and 50 are already taken by prospective buyers, the area would sit at a 50% demand score. 

The latest index shows that the market hasn’t paused for breath since the Christmas break, with homebuyer demand at 60% during the first quarter of 2020, up +6% since the final quarter of last year. 

 
Biggest Increases
 

The biggest uplift in buyer interest has been in Bournemouth, where demand has climbed by +20% in the first quarter alone. 

Oxford has also seen one of the largest increases at +11%, as has Newcastle (+8%), Swansea, Cambridge, Plymouth, and Leeds (+7%).

 
Highest Current Demand
 

In terms of the highest levels of homebuyer activity, Bristol ranks top with 76% of all homes listed already under offer or sold subject to contact. Glasgow (74%), Sheffield (73%), Leeds and Plymouth (71%) are also particularly hot. 

 
London
 

However, with the ongoing uncertainty caused by Covid, London homebuyers remain more cautious. Overall, buyer demand in the capital sits at just 46% having crept up +3% since the final quarter of last year. 

The good news is that just two boroughs, Newham and Brent, have seen demand remain static, while every other London borough has at least enjoyed some positive movement in homebuyer activity. 

Bexley has seen the largest quarterly uplift at +14% and is home to the largest level of current buyer demand (74%). Havering, Hounslow, Hillingdon and the City of London have seen the next largest uplift since Q4 of last year at +5%. 

However, along with Westminster (15%) and Kensington and Chelsea (19%), the City of London ranks as one of the coldest spots in the capital for current homebuyer demand with just 27% of all homes listed selling in current market conditions. 

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented: 

“There’s been no let-up for a UK property market fuelled by the stamp duty holiday with a further increase in homebuyer demand during the first quarter of this year. 

The approaching deadline no doubt dampened this demand to a degree and with an extension now in place, we expect to see further increases over the next two quarters of this year at the very least.

Covid has caused the large degree of regional variation found within the UK property market to come even more pronounced for a whole host of reasons. 

While Bournemouth remains one of the coldest spots for current demand, it’s great to see that as we ease towards the end of lockdown, demand is starting to lift at the quickest rate of all UK cities.

London is also yet to bounce back to its former glory, although the good news is that demand is building across almost every borough. 

It will be interesting to see just how long it takes for normality to fully return now that an exit plan is in place.”

Table shows homebuyer demand across each major UK city and the quarterly change
Location	Q4,2020 Demand %	Q1, 2021 Demand %	Q2Q Change
Bournemouth	17.9%	38.0%	20.1%
Oxford	47.6%	58.3%	10.7%
Newcastle	47.5%	55.5%	8.0%
Swansea	51.3%	58.6%	7.3%
Cambridge	57.9%	65.1%	7.2%
Plymouth	63.6%	70.8%	7.1%
Leeds	64.3%	70.8%	6.6%
Portsmouth	62.7%	69.0%	6.3%
Nottingham	61.1%	66.9%	5.8%
Liverpool	56.2%	61.8%	5.6%
Southampton	56.4%	61.9%	5.5%
Cardiff	56.7%	62.1%	5.4%
Belfast	60.7%	65.4%	4.8%
Manchester	55.3%	60.0%	4.7%
Newport	55.7%	60.3%	4.6%
Birmingham	56.0%	60.5%	4.5%
Bristol	71.4%	75.9%	4.5%
Leicester	55.1%	59.4%	4.3%
Edinburgh	54.6%	58.9%	4.3%
Sheffield	69.5%	73.4%	3.9%
Glasgow	70.3%	74.1%	3.8%
London	43.3%	46.0%	2.7%
Aberdeen	12.7%	14.2%	1.6%
Average	54.3%	60.0%	5.7%
Table shows homebuyer demand across each London borough and the quarterly change
Location	Q4,2020 Demand %	Q1, 2021 Demand %	Q2Q Change
Bexley	59.9%	74.4%	14.4%
Havering	66.5%	71.9%	5.4%
Waltham Forest	66.9%	68.7%	1.8%
Bromley	61.9%	65.1%	3.2%
Barking and Dagenham	63.3%	64.7%	1.3%
Hillingdon	57.1%	62.1%	5.0%
Sutton	58.4%	61.4%	3.1%
Enfield	55.5%	59.2%	3.7%
Redbridge	54.6%	57.8%	3.2%
Lewisham	53.5%	56.0%	2.5%
Haringey	52.7%	53.4%	0.6%
Harrow	49.4%	52.8%	3.4%
Kingston upon Thames	49.7%	52.2%	2.4%
Croydon	49.6%	51.4%	1.8%
Greenwich	49.8%	50.6%	0.8%
Merton	44.7%	46.7%	2.0%
Hounslow	38.1%	43.4%	5.3%
Hackney	39.1%	42.2%	3.1%
Barnet	40.1%	41.8%	1.7%
Richmond upon Thames	37.7%	40.5%	2.8%
Southwark	38.3%	40.5%	2.1%
Islington	35.0%	38.6%	3.6%
Ealing	33.9%	37.7%	3.8%
Wandsworth	36.2%	36.8%	0.6%
Lambeth	32.3%	36.6%	4.4%
Brent	35.8%	36.2%	0.4%
Newham	34.2%	34.6%	0.4%
Hammersmith and Fulham	25.0%	28.3%	3.3%
Camden	25.7%	27.3%	1.6%
Tower Hamlets	24.6%	26.8%	2.2%
City of London	21.6%	26.5%	4.9%
Kensington and Chelsea	17.4%	19.3%	1.9%
Westminster	13.7%	14.7%	1.0%
Average	43.4%	46.1%	2.6%

END

NOTES

●        Demand data sourced from Rightmove and Zoopla – 30/03/2021

●        GetAgent pulls data from all of the major portals which are then cross-referenced with the Land Registry using their proprietary algorithms and input from partner agents.

●        GetAgent is the UK wide whole of market estate agency comparison website. Analysing performance through data to inform home sellers of the best agents.

●        Founded in 2015 by Colby Short (Stevenson Cartwright; SMG Worldwide) and Peter Thum-Bonanno (Find Properly; Analysys Mason)

●        Backed by Seedcamp, the prolific venture capital technology investor

●        And has to date received over 100,000 enquiries for agents from property sellers to a total property value of £30bn and are now serving over 10,000 enquiries per month.