As featured in ShowHouse: May 2022 by Isla MacFarlane

Spring, a national home-buying and part exchange service has launched a new property data platform for estate agents and their clients, called MoveSmart, allowing movers to have a wealth of property data at their fingertips for free.

Using the search tool, comparing up to three locations at once, estate agents and those looking to move home, can find out how quickly properties in any three outcodes (the first three characters of a postcode) have been selling, from listing to completion, along with a breakdown of comparable properties for sale or sold within the area and a breakdown of average sale prices.

Cormac Henderson, CEO of Spring said: “While historically you might expect to see a clear north-south divide, the pandemic has created a market not seen before that breaks the mould. Of course demand is not the only factor at play, with availability and quality of local conveyancers playing a big part in overall completion time.

“MoveSmart is a game changer for the marketplace and we are excited to be launching a useful tool that will armour estate agents with more information by postcode that they can share with their clients when contemplating their next house move.

“Estates agents will be also able to use our MoveSmart platform to also see how a Spring completion compares to their postcode and use it as a tool with their underwriting team to discuss offers with their clients.”

Using the data, a recent report found England’s fastest and slowest property completion areas. Homes in Ayot St Lawrence, Barming and Anlaby are among the slowest in the UK to sell from date of listing to completion. From the day of listing, the average home in the town of Ayot St Lawrence in Hertfordshire took 46 weeks to completion, while in the civil parish of Barming, in Kent, and village of Anlaby in the East Ridings of Yorkshire, the average time was 40 weeks, according to a new report, which reveals the top 10 fastest and slowest selling areas in England.

However, it’s not just more rural locations where sellers are waiting a long time – with the cities of Manchester (36 weeks) Sheffield (30 weeks) and Southampton (30 weeks) also among the slowest to complete, reflecting a lack of demand for city homes as the race for space continues.

Estate agents will also be able to find out the estimated costs of household bills, perfect when movers are weighing up their options on their perfect new home.

The data pulls together information from Government sources including the Land Registry and from statistical technology firm, Propalt into one place.

With £300 million in annual home buying capacity, Spring is the UK’s leading property buying powerhouse, offering up to 93% of the properties’ value, with completion offered as quickly as the homeowner would like.

Read article here: Spring launches new property data platform for estate agents – Show House