The 10 easiest postcodes to sell property

Everybody knows that the housing market is struggling but a comparison of the Land Registry’s figures for June 2008 with previous years indicate just how bad things have got.

In June 2006 there were 124,000 homes sold in England and Wales.

In June 2007 there were 105,000 properties sold. (A drop of 15 per cent)

So far, just 17,681 sales have been recorded in June this year. (A drop of 83 per cent)

The sales figure for June is likely to edge higher over the coming months because solicitors have up to three months to register completed sales but even so, it is clear that home sales have fallen off a cliff.

With the housing market slowing like this it is no wonder then that 100 estate agents a week are closing. With less than one in five properties selling and an average marketing cost of £300 each, the rate of closure is only likely to accelerate.

An in-depth analysis of the Land Registry figures indicates that no part of England or Wales is immune from the slowdown. However, there remain wide regional variations. Here are the ten postcodes that registered the highest number of sales in June.

1.CV6 (Coventry): 44

2. CR0 (Croydon): 40

3. S6 (Sheffield): 36

4. BN3 (Hove): 35

5. SW19 (Wimbledon): 35

6. BN1(Brighton): 34

7. E14 (Poplar): 34

8. ST5 (Newcastle-under-Lyme): 34

9. FY8 (Lytham Saint Annes): 33

10. SG2 (Stevenage) 

However, even sellers in these towns have no great reason to celebrate. Total sales in every one of these postcodes are still dramatically lower than the same time last year. For example, Croydon may be the second busiest postcode in the UK but it June last year it registered 306 sales.

Remarkably, there were more than 1000 postcodes (out of 2851) where no sales were recorded in June.

Figures compiled byHenry Prior, of housingexpert.net. Picture courtesty of dipfan

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Comments

[Steph]

After reading all these comments i have decided ... we have upset the scottish and northern ireland ... sorry braveheart! ... also that looking at the data, the evidence is not given as a percentage of actual numbers of housing available on the market ... and last of all, Stevenage? how many sold? you seem to of missed that bit of data out.

peace! :)

[Pat in New Zealand]

I think you may have just identified postcodes where large housing developments are nearing completion...

[Andrew]

Many years ago I lived in CRO. It is a large postcode and extremely diverse from large houses in leafy parts of Selsdon and Addington Hills to small flats and terraces in the middle of Croydon. Some of it is right by the mainline stations of East and West Croydon and some of it is miles from the nearest railway stations, a big issue in London. So really I don't see how aggregated figures on CR0 can be very useful.

[Tom Jemesek]

I had fried eggs on toast for breakfast.

[Bernard]

When a dwelling is repossessed by the bank or BS due to non-payment of mortgage, its sale on the open market is forced at any attainable price. So those 10 top postcodes may simply be areas of deprivation rather than popularity.

[Roger Tilbury]

Like so many stats these are meaningless. The figures should be based on the percentage of available houses sold. If in CV6 44 out of 200 were sold while somewhere-else ten out of eleven were sold it is obvoulsy easier to sell a house in somewhere-else than in CV6.

[Correction]

I agree with Schlomo. Journalists use sometimes statistics like a drunk man uses lampposts, for support rather than for illumination. The data provided in the article is useless and does not provide an integral view of the state of the housing market.

[Karen Foppiano]

Let's talk about Northern Rock. No one will ever buy it? No one lending at this time so good customer have no options. Northern ROck should, leave the interest rate, to the existing customers at the rate when they qualified. Instead of raising it so high that it causes so much hardship. I would rather spend my £300 pound more each month to Norther Rock and by food, petal and help turn the ecomony around. I see Northern Rock in the same situation as now in 5 years. Once they have a solid, confirmed good customer base then someone will buy it. I think the tax payers would like that better then forcing so many home onwers into bankruptcy or council housing.

[Ian Burgess]

Damn, my house is in Bristol!

[Schlomo]

How did "housingexpert" conclude these are the easiest postcodes in which to sell a property? Just looking at the number of properties sold does not take into account the total number on the market. It's more accurate/meaningful to look at the number of actual sales divided by the number of properties for sale, to see who has the highest percentage of properties available that ended up getting sold. Just looking at the number sold, and running the headline you did, is like saying "London is the deadliest place" based on the number of deaths in June. You get my point.

[Paul]

Why write a story comparing the month of June when the full figures are never going to be available. Why did you not compare April or even May. Ah! I know the answer, it’s because this makes a more sensational headline. This will cause more anguish for people and help the slow the market even more.

[Steve]

Dear Mr Braveheart, Scotland is under a completely differnt system and hides their stats in a different manner, therefore difficult to compare. As for buying up there, you have invented the ultimate form of mind game torture with your closed bid system (abused by corruption of course, ie some can have a look at the sealed bids beforehand) which is why my Scotish half of the family moved to England

[Longshanks]

Stop moaning. Doesn't the Daily Record have a site where you can bitch about the English to your heart's content?

Guess what - there's 50 million people in England. There's 15 people and a sheep dog in Scotland. Who do you think reports will be aimed at?

[Braveheart]

The article calls Croydon the second busiest postcode "in the UK". But the data used covers only England and Wales. Is the author unaware that Scotland and Northern Ireland are also parts of the UK. Yet another example of disgraceful Anglo bias...