New analysis shows busiest cities for buyers in today’s housing market

Analysis from estate agency Yopa reveals that while the London market may be the worst performing in terms of house prices, it remains by far the busiest for transactions.

Yopa analysed market performance of 10 major cities across England looking at both the number of homes sold and house price performance over the last year.

The research shows that across England as a whole, house prices have fallen by -2.1% over the last year. However, the average London house price has fallen by -4.8% during the same period.

Sheffield is the only major city analysed to see a similar rate of decline as the capital, with the average house price down -4.4% annually.

Liverpool (-2.9%), Birmingham (-2.6%), Bradford (-1.6%), Leeds (-0.9%) and Manchester (-0.8%) also saw property values fall, while Newcastle enjoyed the largest uplift at 4.6%, followed by Bristol (+1%) and Leicester (+0.1%).

However London remains the most expensive with a current average of £508,037.

Of the 98,383 property sales to have completed across these 10 major cities over the last year, the capital accounts for a huge 49%.

The next best offering comes from Manchester (20%), followed by Leeds (6%), Birmingham (6%), Bradford (4%), Sheffield (4%), and Bristol (4%), demonstrating just how dominant the London market is when it comes to homebuyer activity across the nation’s major cities.

A Yopa spokesperson says: “We’ve seen higher interest rates dampen the purchasing power of the nation’s homebuyers over the last year and this has naturally led to a reduction in house prices, particularly across major regional cities where homes command the highest price tags.

“With London home to the highest house prices in the nation, it’s no surprise that cooling market conditions have seen the average London house price fall by the greatest margin.

“However, topline house price performance doesn’t necessarily reflect the overall health of the market and while London may have seen the most significant correction in house prices, it remains by far the busiest major city where actual buyer activity levels are concerned.”