Homebuyer activity picked up modestly in the final quarter of 2025 following the Autumn Budget, with Bristol, Tyne & Wear and South Yorkshire emerging as the strongest regional markets, research by Property DriveBuy reveals.
Analysis of listings in Q4 2025 found that 44% of homes on the market across the UK had secured a buyer and were marked sold subject to contract.
That represented a marginal quarterly increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with Q3, pointing to a tentative return of confidence as political uncertainty receded.
However, demand remained 1.8 percentage points lower than the same period a year earlier.
REGIONAL RANKINGS
Bristol led the rankings, with 61.1% of listed properties finding a buyer. Tyne & Wear (53.7%) and South Yorkshire (52%) also recorded demand above 50%, alongside Bedfordshire (51.8%), Wiltshire (51.3%) and Greater Manchester (50.5%).
At the other end of the spectrum, conditions were weakest in the City of London, where only 18.5% of properties listed were under offer, followed by the Isle of Wight (29.2%) and Lincolnshire (33.1%).
Quarterly growth in demand was strongest in Bristol and Cornwall, both up 3.1% between Q3 and Q4, with East Sussex, Surrey and West Sussex also showing notable gains. Durham and the City of London saw the steepest quarterly declines, each down 2.2%.
On an annual basis, England overall recorded a near-2% drop in buyer demand in Q4. Even so, several areas posted year-on-year increases, led by East Riding of Yorkshire (up 3.3%), Rutland and Merseyside (both up 2.9%). Lancashire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Northumberland also saw growth.
Greater London registered the sharpest annual fall
Greater London registered the sharpest annual fall, with demand down 5.3% compared with Q4 2024, followed by Berkshire (down 4.8%) and Bristol (down 4.7%). Despite these declines, many of the worst annual performers continued to outpace the national average in absolute demand levels.
CONFIDENCE RETURNING
Steve Foreman (main picture, inset), Founder and CEO of Property DriveBuy, says: “In the few short weeks following the Autumn Budget we saw confidence begin to return to the property market, with many buyers and sellers re-entering in the run-up to Christmas to get ahead of the traditional January rush.
“This caused buyer demand levels to climb when compared to the previous quarter and, while this late surge in activity wasn’t enough to lift annual demand, it helped stabilise conditions and leaves the market in a far stronger position as we head into the new year.
“Of course, at the same time, the data reinforces just how varied buyer appetite can be across the country, with demand levels differing sharply from one area to the next.”
MAXIMUM EXPOSURE
He adds: “For sellers, this makes maximising exposure increasingly important. Most property portals still rely on rigid, category-based search filters, which can mean a potentially perfect home is overlooked simply because it sits just outside a buyer’s defined search area.
“At Property DriveBuy, we believe that geolocation represents the next step in how people will actually search for properties, removing these restrictive boundaries and allowing them to discover homes on the move.
“This means buyers can house-hunt on the go, with relevant properties flagged in real time, ensuring sellers reach motivated buyers who may otherwise never see their home.”
