The UK sales property market in the second quarter of this year has seen the highest number of available properties since 2010 but most of them are out of reach for the average buyer, new Experian research shows.
Almost 250,000 new homes were made available between April and June 2015, a 3 per cent rise on the same period of 2014.
However, a comparison of price bands clearly shows that most of the available properties are hardly affordable for the regular buyer.
Across the UK, the number of homes put up for sale in the £500,000-£750,000 price band increased by 17 per cent, while houses valued £750,000 and above increased by 5 per cent.
Greater London remains one of the toughest markets for small-budget buyers as the capital saw an even higher increase in high-end properties for sale. The number of London homes valued at £500,000-£750,000 that were made available for sale grew by 18 per cent in the second quarter and the number of those valued at £750,000 and over surged by 25 per cent.
At the other end of the spectrum, properties for sale priced in the £100,000-£250,000 bracket fell 3 per cent nationwide, while in Greater London there was a slump of 25 per cent.
The drop was biggest in central London, where just around 2,000 properties priced up to £250,000 came on the market between April and June. This was 44 per cent lower than in the same period a year ago.
“As the housing squeeze continues to impact first and second time buyers, as well as growing families, putting yourself in good financial shape and having a strong credit score is vital to securing the mortgage you need. At Experian, we’re focused on helping people navigate the mortgage market by providing valuable insight and advice. We work with lenders too and encourage them to look at people’s particular circumstances and gain the best insight they can into what customers can realistically afford,” Andy Wills, data director at Experian Consumer Information Services, said.
Regionally, the North West saw the largest total number of properties come on to the market in the second quarter of 2015 with 32,229 homes for sale, up by 17 per cent on the year. Homes entering the market in the Greater London region increased by 8 per cent, followed by the West Midlands with 6 per cent more homes available.
| From Q2 2014 to Q2 2015 | >£100k | £100k-£250k | £250k-£500k | £500-750k | <£750 | Total |
| North West | 19.60% | 15.69% | 16.54% | 21.42% | -1.96% | 16.57% |
| Greater London | -19.51% | -25.39% | 21.45% | 25.26% | 19.28% | 8.33% |
| West Midlands | -11.92% | 5.39% | 19.20% | 4.89% | 1.66% | 5.60% |
| East of England | -25.45% | -7.25% | 21.46% | 23.88% | 20.80% | 4.63% |
| Central London | -11.49% | -44.11% | -3.74% | 17.59% | 2.20% | 3.22% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 2.20% | 0.07% | 11.14% | 22.88% | 9.18% | 3.14% |
| East Midlands | -11.09% | 0.12% | 16.78% | 29.79% | 4.62% | 2.94% |
| South East | -23.71% | -16.79% | 14.71% | 18.94% | 10.22% | 1.84% |
| Wales | 2.43% | 1% | -0.53% | 3.07% | -7.53% | 0.89% |
| North East | -0.27% | -3.88% | 1.04% | -1.82% | -19.81% | -2.27 |
| South West | -18.84% | -9.70% | 4.93% | 4.13% | 0.79% | -3.81% |
| Scotland | -10.92% | -3.21% | -0.37% | 3.52% | -9.89% | -5.34% |
| UK | -1.88% | -3.09% | 10.27% | 16.53% | 5.48% | 2.65% |
Data compiled by Experian August 2015
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