SmartNewHomes reports that London bore the brunt of the summer slowdown with a fall in demand of 8.5%. That figure almost exactly matches the rise that Wales enjoyed. Meanwhile urban exiles continue to flock to the South-west

Methodology

The New Homes Demand Index is based on enquiries recorded on the SmartNewHomes.com website and records the price people are willing to pay for new homes, by region and type of property. If willingness to pay is increasing, then clearly demand for new homes is improving and this is likely to lead to higher realised prices and better deals for housebuilders. The Demand Index also tracks migration between regions. By subtracting the number of users based in a region from the number of searches in that region, one gets a net balance that reflects an overall propensity to move out of or into a region.

SmartNewHomes.com is a registered subsidiary of Smart Media Services, a marketing business working exclusively within the residential property sector. With more than 5,000 new homes from more than 1,600 developments on line, the site represents the largest database of individual new homes on the internet. SmartNewHomes.com currently attracts more than 400,000 visits a month.

Related files/tables

Building Homes September 2004