Rightmove is reporting this morning that there has been a 6.6 per cent increase in the number ot homes with two bedrooms or fewer coming to the market.
Across the wider market of all homes, there has been a modest 1.8 per cent increase in the number of properties coming on sale this January than a year ago.
The 6.6 per cent figure is the highest increase in the volume of 'fresh-to-the-market' one and two bed homes since 2007, the portal reports. And it says the reason may be landlords already selling up as a result of Chancellor George Osborne's flurry of tax changes and stamp duty rises aimed at the buy to let investor.
"Encouragingly for first-time buyers there’s more fresh choice with more property coming to market in their target sector. With their asking prices pretty much the same as a month ago, perhaps the knock-on effects of the more punitive landlord tax regime have arrived early and they now face a dilemma over whether to buy now or wait to see if prices drop in this sector over the next few months” explains Miles Shipside, housing analyst at Rightmove.
Despite this rise in supply, however, asking prices as measured on Rightmove's monthly index continue to increase. In January the average asking price for homes new to the market is 0.5 per cent (£1,509) - that's the second highest rise at this time of year since 2007.
Demand as measured by visits to the Rightmove website in the first working week of 2016 is up by 21 per cent on the same period in 2015.
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So it finally seems to be looking up for first-time buyers at least. I wonder whether the supply of homes will decrease further in the next couple of months, especially as buy-to-let and second home owners are likely to rush to buy before April's stamp duty deadline and steal some properties under the noses of these eager first-time buyers?
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