More Sold signs are reason to give cheer

Sold signs have been sprouting across the country, increasing to their highest number since April 2008.

According to estate agency sign supplier Agency Express, the number of Sold signs instructed by agents in June rose to the highest level for 14 months, and showed a 19.2% increase on May.

Year-on-year, there were 36.3% more Sold signs in June than June 2008.

The region showing the greatest monthly increase in the number of boards moving from For Sale to Sold was the West Midlands, with a 58.7% rise, followed by the East Midlands (35.1%) and Yorkshire (28.8%).

The regions experiencing the lowest increase in sales were Wales, which remained static, London where there was a 7.6% increase and the North-East where 8.3% more Sold signs were instructed.

However, Agency Express points out there is still some way to go: the latest June figure is 34% lower than the monthly average for 2007.

The lack of new instructions is also apparent: while the number of new For Sale boards has crept up this year, from the lowest recorded level in December 2008, June’s new For Sale board activity is 32.9% down on last June. It is also 56.1% down on the highest recorded month in the last two years, which was May 2007.

The regions showing the greatest monthly increase in the number of For Sale boards being put up are the East Midlands (37.4%), Yorkshire (26%) and London (25.4%). The regions showing the smallest monthly rises in the erection of For Sale boards were Scotland (2.1%), the North-East (13.9%) and the South-East (15.4%).

Stephen Watson, former estate agent and managing director of Agency Express, said: “There are grounds for continuing optimism that we have seen the bottom of the market. Confidence is definitely returning and we have seen a step-change in the number of properties being sold right across the UK.

“This in turn is likely to encourage more people to put their houses up for sale and we have certainly seen evidence of this happening already. But we are not out of the woods yet.

“The number of properties sold in June is still significantly behind the monthly average we saw in 2007 and I would suggest that it’s likely to take another couple of years for a full recovery to take place.”