No Slowdown for September

Online, October 2, 2013 (Newswire.com) - This year has been an exciting year for the UK property market. Property sales have flourished, the Bank of England's 'Funding for Lending Scheme' has helped drive growth forward and financial institutions have taken advantage of extra capacity by adjusting their offerings tempting new buyers to the market.

Over the last nine months Agency Express the UK's largest 'For Sale' board contractor has reported these encouraging signs of growth to the property market in the form of their monthly 'Property Activity Index' report. The latest national figures recorded by the Agency Express Property Activity Index have shown a continual rise in property sales for the ninth consecutive month. This month national figures reported a robust 17.2% increase over August's increase of 1.6% emphasising the continued growth and strength of UK property market.

Regional figures recorded by the Index show three consistent performers, The South East recording a 23.6% rise in property sales within the last month, their ninth month of reporting an increase in sales. London over a three month average reports an overall increase in property sales of 16.8% and within the last month an increase of 26.5%. The South West also reports a 14.2% increase in sales over a three month average and a robust increase of 21.4% in the last month.

Looking more closely at the data recorded by the Property Activity Index, regions achieving robust figures for 'new listings for sale' include: Central England up by 25.3%, East Anglia up by 7.5% from last month's -12%, East Midlands up by 10.8%, The North West up by 19.5%, Scotland up by 18.8%, The South East up by 14.3%, The West Midlands up from -6.6% to 10.9% and a massive rise for the London of 44.9% from last month's decline of25.2%.

The Property Activity Index has been reporting information the nation's board movements for over seven years. The 'real time' data collection allows the report to show emerging trends months before many other industry reports and accurately report on over 90% of all postcoded areas of the UK.

Agency Express Comments

Commenting on the latest index results, Stephen Watson, Managing Director of Agency Express said:

A robust month for the property market but can we maintain current speed and growth. However with news that the second phase of 'Help to Buy' scheme is to be launched three months early, we could see an increase of potential buyers coming on to the market. Over the next few months it will be interesting to see if the upward trend continues or if we experience the usual seasonal drop in market activity.

About Agency Express

Agency Express is the UK's leading provider of estate agency board services. Via a countrywide network of operating centres and specially trained board erectors Agency Express currently erect and maintain estate agency boards across the nation.

Agency Express was formed in 1998 specifically to provide a nationwide 'For Sale' board erection and management service for corporate and independent estate agencies via a network of franchisees. Today, Agency Express is the UK's largest 'For Sale' board company with one in four boards being erected and serviced by our franchisees.

'For Sale' boards can be seen on virtually every street in the UK and every one of these boards needs to be erected, changed to display 'Sold' and, finally, be removed at a time agreed with the agency when the sale has been completed. In short, a multimillion pound business, the results of which give a very visible indication of the condition of the UK residential property market.

• UK's only truly nationwide estate agency 'For Sale' board company

• 18 out of the top 20 estate agency chains use Agency Express

• SignMaster3 online board management system provides estate agencies with total control over their board assets

• Full members of the British Franchise Association

• Carrying out over 4,000 board movements every working day

Stephen Watson: Founder & Managing Director of Agency Express, Stephen has 20 years estate agency experience, was instrumental in the formation of the UK's first estate agency franchise company and latterly, headed up the franchising division of Alliance & Leicester Property Services