Homebuyer demand returns following Autumn Budget
New research from Property DriveBuy reveals that Bristol, Tyne & Wear, and South Yorkshire emerged as the UK’s most in-demand areas of the housing market following the Autumn Budget, with as many as 61% of homes listed for sale successfully securing a buyer in Q4 2025.
Property Drivebuy analysed residential listings data across the nation in Q4 2025*, looking at what proportion of homes listed for sale had already found a buyer and been marked as sold subject to contract.
The research shows that nationwide, demand stood at 44% during the closing stages of last year, meaning that of all properties that were listed for sale, 44% had been marked as sold subject to contract.
This marked a small quarterly increase of 0.4% when compared to Q3, as months of political uncertainty lifted following the Autumn Budget and market activity strengthened, although buyer demand remained down (-1.8%) when compared to Q4 2024.
Buyer appetites were strongest in the City of Bristol where demand stood at 61.1%.
Other areas to see the strongest levels of buyer demand included Tyne & Wear (53.7%), South Yorkshire (52%), and Bedfordshire (51.8%), while Wiltshire (51.3%) and Greater Manchester (50.5%) also reported demand levels of over 50%.
Meanwhile, homes were most difficult to move in the City of London (18.5%), Isle of Wight (29.2%), and Lincolnshire (33.1%).
Strong quarterly demand growth
As well as reporting the strongest overall level of demand, Bristol also saw some of the strongest quarterly growth in demand, rising by 3.1% between Q3 and Q4.
Cornwall also recorded quarterly growth of 3.1%, followed by East Sussex (2.6%), Surrey (2.2%), and West Sussex (2%).
Meanwhile, Durham and the City of London saw the biggest quarterly declines in demand, both dropping by -2.2%.
The annual picture
While England overall saw an annual demand drop of almost -2% in Q4, on a county level, a number of locations still managed steady year on year growth.
The East Riding of Yorkshire reported an annual increase of 3.3%, while Rutland and Merseyside both saw growth of 2.9%.
Lancashire was close behind at 2.7%, followed by Staffordshire (1.9%), Shropshire (1.8%), Northumberland (1.8%), and Tyne & Wear (1.5%).
The biggest annual drop came in Greater London, where demand fell by -5.3% on the year.
This was followed by Berkshire (-4.8%), and the City of Bristol (-4.7%), although overall demand in both of these locations still outperformed the national average.
Steve Foreman, Founder and CEO of Property DriveBuy, commented:
“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.
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.”
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