Wigan estate agents witness one of UK's biggest sales drop

Property data and estate agent prospecting platform Homesearch.co.uk analysed its property data to find out which agents, by postcode area, have experienced the best or toughest market conditions.

Despite a booming housing market nationally, the report found that estate agents in Wigan have seen a 22 per cent fall in year-on-year sales volumes, ranking them in first position in the top 10 lowest performing areas out of over 100 major postcodes analysed.

This contrasts with Harrogate in Yorkshire which is the best-selling area for agents outside of the capital and has experienced an 11.5 per cent increase in sales transactions for the same period.

A key part of the study was to identify which postcodes are the most and least lucrative to estate agents.

Wigan ranked 98th position nationally, with over £533m of property sales generated by agents in the town in the last 12 months.

The research found that Wigan estate agents have benefited from a 6.9 per cent (£11,561) increase in average house prices year-on-year.

This rise ranks the town in 100th position nationally in terms of the size of the price increase, with 96 per cent of areas having seen an uplift in sale prices.

Speed of sale is also key to estate agent businesses in the borough, with properties taking 46 days on average to sell subject to contract from the date they went on the market.

This compares nationally to Slough where properties take 71 days to sell – the slowest time period outside of London.

Sam Hunter, co-founder and chief operating officer at Homesearch, said: “It’s very clear from our data that the housing market in Wigan presents the toughest battle ground for estate agents outside of London.

“At a time when the national picture is buoyant and house prices have risen significantly in the last 12 months, the challenge facing agents in Wigan is mainly due to a chronic shortage of sellable housing stock, with 29 buyers on average competing for every one property on the market.

“Agents will clearly have to work harder than ever to stimulate the market and win new instructions if they are to address this sizeable drop in sales transactions.”