Zoopla sees surge in Dorset seaside homes for sale

Towns like Bournemouth saw a 20% rise in house listings on average, according to the Zoopla website

The number of houses for sale by the sea has grown by a fifth in the last year, according to a property website.

Supply has seen a particularly strong increase in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset, Zoopla figures revealed.

It added that estate agents in the south west typically had around two-and-a-half times as many homes for sale as they did in spring 2022.

The website suggested prices had risen as well.

Zoopla suggests rising property prices over the past five years in areas like Christchurch may be prompting homeowners to sell

Locations in Wales, such as Caerphilly and the Vale of Glamorgan, where people could commute to nearby Cardiff, also experienced big jumps in available properties.

In the East Midlands, the increase was particularly seen in more rural areas such as southern Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, including the Peak District.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Zoopla noted signs of a "race for space" in the property market, with many buyers looking to move to more rural and coastal locations.

But it said the return to office or hybrid working meant some potential buyers may not have been motivated to move for a lifestyle change, and sellers needed to set their prices realistically.

Zoopla saw more homes up for sale in rural areas like the Peak District in Derbyshire

In Cornwall, Zoopla said property prices increased by more than a quarter on average, while prices in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch jumped by 20%.

However, government data suggested the average house price in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole was £324,000, falling by more than five percent between February 2023 and 2024.

There were also signs that the rise in supply was having a knock-on effect on the time it took to sell a property, Zoopla found.

In Cornwall it typically took 20 days longer to sell, compared with spring 2022, and 23 days longer on average in the east Dorset area, the data showed.

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