While agents’ stock is still historically low, March saw more new properties come to the market bringing with them new buyers and a lift in sales being agreed, the latest data from Propertymark has revealed.

It showed that buyers are still predominantly paying the asking price and above, keeping the ball firmly in the seller’s court.

The Propertymark report found that the average number of new potential buyers registering at each member branch was up from 67 in February to 84 in March, returning close to the January high of 100.

The average number of properties listed per member agent branch remained steady at 22, compared to 23 in February.

New instructions to the market continue to be high at an average of 10 per member branch, showing the increase in supply since the new year has held.

Meanwhile, the report showed that the number of offers accepted at or over the asking price has increased by 4 percentage points month-on-month to 84%, representing the highest figure since the Propertymark surveys started in September 2013.

The proportion of monthly sales to first-time buyers stayed strong at 30% of overall sales in March. While it represented a slight decrease on February’s figure of 37%, it was above average for the post-2020 lockdown period when it stood at 25%.

Propertymark chief executive Nathan Emerson comments: “Our March figures show a range of new activity as the spring market makes itself known. The number of new properties coming on to the market has increased slightly and new stock breeds new buyers and new sales.”

“The number of sales being agreed in March is slightly above our recorded long-term average and the uplift in properties coming to market is a trend we would hope to see continue into April and May,” Emerson adds.