Besley Hill, Bristol and Gloucestershire’s biggest independent estate agents, with 15 offices throughout the region, are enjoying rising house sales.
“We have seen a 25% increase in sales on the year to date, so it’s looking much better than last year,” said managing director Adam Offer.
This improving picture is confirmed by figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which show that, despite the recession, home sales so far this year are up from 2011.
Completed property sales in the first half of the year were 11% up on the same period last year, the data from HMRC reveal.
Sales rose by 7,000 in June to 83,000, taking the total across the UK for the first six months of the year to 431,000, an increase on the 387,000 recorded in the first half of 2011.
Last week, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said its members' total lending, to both house buyers and those just switching lenders, for the first half of the year, was 7% higher than in the same period last year.
“One factor boosting sales and borrowing in the first half was the reintroduction of stamp duty for first-time buyers on homes worth up to £250,000,” said Adam Offer. “Some buyers pushed through their purchases in the early months of the year, to beat the reintroduction of the tax on 24 March.”
