The London property market is continuing to see an increase in activity that started in July, according to Hamptons International. The firm’s Property Market observations said. London is seeing more activity than their country regions, with 48% more buyers registering there, and 13% more across our entire network.

A further surge of buyers has been seen since the firm's October report with 67% more buyers registering than the same period last year in London. Numbers of offers are up 17% across the business (London up 57%), and viewings up 9% as a whole.

And they’re not just window-shopping, says Hamptons. Agreed sales levels across their London network are up again – this month by a noteworthy 35%, and with an increase in actual exchanges of 40%, London has seen fewer deals falling through. Across the country network, agreed sales are up 6% and exchanges marginally up at 2%.

However, sellers don’t believe the buyers are back as new instructions are still down on last year, but by less than previously – 4% in London compared with the same period last year, although the country regions are experiencing a greater lack of stock - down 22%.

Lettings market

The number of lets is up 6% across Hamptons London network, but with more tenants chasing properties, offers have risen in value terms by 35%, for the second month (in the country, the number of lets is up 18% and their value by an identical amount, indicating flat rents). The firm is also seeing fewer fallthroughs and more offers, indicating more competition among prospective tenants.