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Big Rise in North East House Sales

There’s been a big rise in house sales in the region, according to figures just out this morning. Buyer interest in finally translating into sales say the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in its Housing Market Survey.

Newly agreed sales increased rapidly in March and at the fastest pace since October 2006 with the percentage of North East surveyors reporting new transactions now at 31 per cent, up from -2 in February. Confidence in the sales outlook also increased for the third consecutive month with expectations most buoyant in the North East as 42 per cent of surveyors reported positive prospects for the three months ahead, up from 14 percent in February.

Across the UK, interest has been strong in every region with London and Wales leading the way. The rise in interest reflects both the drop in asking prices and the sharp fall in the cost of money. As house prices drop, those with finance are now looking to do more than window shop.

RICS North East housing market spokesperson and director at regional estate agency Rook Matthews Sayer, Richard Sayer commented: Today’sfigures are an accurate and heart-warming reflection of the uplift we’ve been witnessing in the region in the past three months. Buyer interest takes time to translate into sales and thankfully we are now witnessing this in earnest and in a way that we haven’t for the past 18 months. People are buying and selling houses again and we are seeing a healthy flow of new and sensibly priced stock on the market across the region. Homebuyers are also waking up to the fact that mortgages are now at their cheapest rates for 50 years and lenders are opening up their criteria to make loans more widely available.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .