West Midlands housing market stays buoyant as post-lockdown bounce continues

The region has also seen asking prices rise at the fastest rate in the UK in the last year and is proving to be one of the driving forces of the UK market since lockdown.

It comes as Rightmove says the UK has seen its busiest month for sales in a decade – up 20 per cent on the previous high to more than £37 billion – as sellers focused on property rather than holidays after the housing market got back on track

Over the last 12 months the region's house prices are up 6.3 per cent to a record £243,260 and between July and last month the rise was 1.4 per cent.

Scotland saw houses selling quickest at 53 days, while the average time for a house to sell in the West Midlands stands at 58 days – just one day behind Greater London.

James Forrester of Birmingham based Barrows and Forrester said homes in the West Midlands were increasing more than anywhere else in the UK and selling quicker than almost anywhere else too.

"I’m not quite suggesting that the West Midlands is going to overtake the capital however, with annual growth in prices at three times that of London and the South East, it’s certainly evident that we are catching up," he added.

Dominic Murphy, managing director of DM & Co estate agents in Solihull, said: "I suspect that the market will remain buoyant until job losses filter through and really start to hit the market in full force."

Last week it was revealed that Stourbridge has seen one of the most expensive residential property sales in the West Midlands in the last year.

A house in Racecourse Lane, Stourbridge, sold for £1,475,000 and the DY8 postcode area within which it falls has seen one of the highest average sale prices in the West Midlands.

The region has become one of the regional powerhouses of the UK property market, showing consistent growth and home to the highest asking price outside of London and the South.

Birmingham estate agent, Barrows and Forrester, has taken a look at which postcode pockets of the region have been driving the market at the top-end, based on sales of £1 million and above over the last 12-months.

The average transaction for homes above the £1m mark in the West Midlands sits at £1.205m over the last 12 months, not that far behind London at £1.38m.

The last month has seen the highest number of properties coming to market in a month since March 2008 and the latest weekly sales agreed figure is up by 60 per cent compared to the same week in 2019 as buyers ignore the usual summer holiday slowdown.

The record levels of buyer activity have lead to processing delays and it means that patience is required to get sales agreed to completion.

Across Britain, the average asking price on a home in August now stands at £319,497 – edging down slightly by 0.2 per cent or £768 from £320,265 in July, which had been a record high.