House hunters seeking to purchase property in London this year are likely to face significantly more competitive market conditions than in 2021, owed in part to the widening supply-demand imbalance.

Since January, 51% more buyers have entered the market and 35% more property viewings took place compared to January last year, although it is important to take the impact of the pandemic into account.

This level of buyer demand has created beneficial conditions for sellers and, as a result, the number of homeowners willing to drop their asking prices has dropped by 44%, the data provided by Chestertons shows.

At the same time, the number of available properties for sale has fallen by 8% compared to January 2021. This, says Chestertons, has led to buyers facing tougher bidding wars with fellow house hunters.

Guy Gittins, CEO of Chestertons, commented: “Last year, we saw many house hunters feeling left in limbo as the impact of the pandemic created a strong sense of economic uncertainty. Since then, buyer confidence has clearly returned and there has been a drastic increase in demand for houses and apartments alike. To see new buyer enquiries of this scale at the beginning of the year is truly remarkable and a strong indication for the market to remain buoyant for at least the first half of 2022.”

Cory Askew, Chestertons’ head of sales, added: “Having been raised twice in three months, interest rates are expected to continue rising this year and with house prices also rising, it is no surprise to see a lot of buyers keen to secure a property early in the year. There is a well-founded fear amongst buyers that if they wait, they will either be priced out of the market or have to pay higher mortgage rates, both of which will ultimately force them to compromise on the property they could have had.”

Property group in exclusive negotiations to acquire Chestertons