After months of low housing supply, the number of new property listings is finally starting to rise as economic jitters mount and a belief grows that house prices may be peaking.

Rural areas have seen the greatest rise in property supply.

Fresh analysis by Knight Frank suggests a hangover from the “race for space” in rural areas is helping to fuel growth in supply.

The latest data from OnTheMarket and found there was a 19.2% increase in the number of new listings between January and April this year in England and Wales. However, while there was an increase of only 5.7% in London – the smallest rise – the number of new properties listed for sale in Wales jumped by a third..

Indeed, the 20 local authorities that registered the biggest increase in supply over the period were, on average, classified as 55% urban.

For the bottom 20 areas – where supply fell – they were classified as 92% urban on average. See full table below.

“I suspect it is a hangover from last year when so many rural owners didn’t list their house as they didn’t think they would be able to find anything to move to,” said James Cleland, head of the country business at Knight Frank. “What was a vicious circle is becoming a virtuous circle as higher levels of supply leads to more stock coming on.”

“A stronger sense of seasonality in more rural areas will have contributed to supply rising more quickly in the first few months of the year,” said Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank. “It’s also likely that in urban centres like London, sellers are less motivated by concerns over peaking property prices after weaker growth during the pandemic.”