Newmarket tops supply shortage hotspots as home sales surge by 79%

Love or Hate Rightmove
  • Newmarket in Suffolk is revealed as the top new supply shortage hotspot, seeing the biggest gap over the past year between the number of homes selling and new sellers coming to market:
    • The number of sales being agreed in the town is up by 79% on last July, while new sellers putting their properties up for sale is down by 49%
  • The top ten new supply shortage hotspots are all in South East and East of England, with average asking prices in three of the hotspots – Newmarket, Berkhamsted and Bushey – up by 9% since 2019
  • Nationally the average number of available properties on an agent’s books is 16, down from 29 in July 2020
  • The shortage areas could provide an opportunity for homeowners considering a move to take action now while stock is low and demand is high

New data from the UK’s biggest property website Rightmove reveals the new supply shortage hotspots around England.

The rankings are calculated based on the biggest changes in the number of homes being marked sold subject to contract and the number of new sellers putting their homes up for sale, compared to July last year.

Newmarket in Suffolk tops the list, which has seen a surge of 79% in sales agreed over the last year, and a 49% drop in new sellers coming to market.

Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire came in second place, with a surge of 58% in sales being agreed, and a drop of 57% in new sellers. Witney in Oxfordshire takes the third spot with sales up 51% and new sellers down 59%.

The stock shortage is being felt across the country, with the average available stock per agent on Rightmove dropping from 29 in July 2020 to just 16 properties now. Around two third of properties have already found a buyer, and some of the hotter areas like Newmarket are seeing a higher rate of three quarters of homes already sold subject to contract.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Data comments: “If we think back to July last year the market in England had been open again for around six weeks, the stamp duty holiday was announced, and a summer frenzy was just beginning. 12 months on, the combination of fewer sellers coming to market and sustained demand has resulted in a summer seller shortfall, and so the challenge for agents now is to try and replenish the stock to meet the demand from buyers. For those considering coming to market this year, now could be the time to find out what your home could be worth from a local agent.”

 

Location

 

% drop in number of new sellers versus July 2020 % rise in number of sales agreed versus July 2020 Average

Asking Price

July 2021

Average Asking Price July 2019

 

Average Asking Price change versus July 2019

 

Newmarket, Suffolk -49% 79% £320,043 £294,656 +9%
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire -57% 58% £694,085 £636,055 +9%
Witney, Oxfordshire -59% 51% £347,798 £330,011 +5%
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire -53% 55% £363,245 £349,043 +4%
St. Ives, Cambridgeshire -56% 49% £308,187 £294,018 +5%
Weybridge, Surrey -53% 49% £932,526 £961,008 -3%
Bushey, Hertfordshire -49% 53% £583,514 £536,083 +9%
Egham, Surrey -60% 41% £495,844 £472,470 +5%
Marlow, Buckinghamshire -58% 43% £726,383 £688,195 +6%
Farnborough, Hampshire -54% 45% £364,757 £354,849 +3%

Rightmove

UK Property news updates shared directly from Rightmove PLC - the country's leading property portal.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

UK monthly property transactions for May 2025

Headline statistics from the latest transactions data include: the provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in May 2025 is 81,470, 12% lower than May 2024 and 25% higher than April 2025 the provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of UK residential transactions in May 2025 is 80,530, 13% lower than May 2024 and…
Read More
Breaking News

Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) shows the Government has a plan

The Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) held its first board meeting today (26 June 2025), where it set out a roadmap for recruiting 100,000 more construction workers a year by the end of Parliament. Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders (NFB), said: “The Construction Skills Mission Board (CSMB) is a recognition…
Read More
Paint Stripper Tools
Estate Agent Talk

5 Strategies to Optimise Your Warehouse for Real Estate

The term fixer-upper can mean many things, from ‘slap some paint on the walls and it looks brand new’ to ‘will this building collapse if we open the front door?’ Indeed, in the dicey world of commercial property acquisition, each warehouse you buy will probably fall into both camps. Thinking about the viability of warehouses…
Read More
Breaking News

HMOs sell for up to 50% above market average

New research from Excellion Capital, the boutique debt advisory and investment firm, reveals that HMOs sell for as much as 50% above the average house price, further increasing their investment potential after it was revealed that HMOs also create rental yields of up to 12.5%. After previous research from Excellion Capital recently showed that the…
Read More
Breaking News

UK buyers struggle while 50,000 homes sit empty

As the UK housing crisis deepens, new analysis by Open Property Group exposes a worrying surge in so-called “zombie homes”- properties that sit unoccupied and deteriorating while millions struggle to access affordable housing. Key insights: 50,000+ long-term vacant homes in England alone 23,000+ of these have been empty for more than two years Estimated £13.6…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 26/06/25

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   The UK is Europe’s second most distressed market despite headline GDP growth Retail and Consumers Goods has emerged as the most distressed sector in Europe, with distress levels now the highest since the global financial crisis, according to the latest Weil European Distress Index (WEDI). The…
Read More