According to the latest data from HMRC, more homes changed hands in the last three months of 2020 than for any quarter in the past 13 years. A figure which emphasises the scale of the recovery in housing market activity following the relaxation of lockdown restrictions last summer and the stimulus of the stamp duty holiday. But as a new year and a new lockdown begin, the question we’re being asked is what happens next?
All things considered, the housing market has seen in the new year in a relatively robust fashion. Despite yet another lockdown (the housing market though is still open) and the fact that the majority of sales agreed this month are unlikely to beat the stamp duty holiday deadline, it has been one of the strongest starts to January in the last decade.
So far this month sellers have achieved the highest proportion of the asking price in any January since our records began. And it takes the shortest time in three years for a seller to find a buyer. On average, sellers are achieving 98.6% of their initial asking price and taking 65 days to find a purchaser. Time to sell usually picks up a little in January following the Christmas period, but this year sellers are finding a buyer five days quicker than in January 2020 following the so-called general election induced Boris Bounce.
The strength of the market has been built on the back of stock scarcity. In the first half of this month, the number of new homes coming onto the market was down 13% on the same period last year, meaning buyers are faced with limited choice. The shortages were most acute in the West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber and the East of England. Meanwhile, London was the only region where more new instructions came onto the market than in January last year.
But it is worth remembering that January 2020 was a particularly strong month following the general election and beginning of the Brexit transition period. Look back a little further however and the number of homes coming onto the market so far this year is on a par with 2017 levels. 
