HOMEOWNERS in Swindon are listing their houses for sale on the market in droves with nearly 50 per cent more people selling up in the past month.

The number dwarfs the national average according to a recent study, with only around a 7.1 per cent increase across the UK.

More than two thirds (67 per cent) of major towns and cities have seen a rise in the number of new properties being marketed in the same period.

Online estate agent HouseSimple.com has compiled a property supply index looking at the number of new properties listed every week on the property portal Rightmove in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all the London boroughs.

The figures also reveal a distinct north-south divide with owners in the north of England and Scotland appearing to be more active in June and July in marketing their properties.

Nine out of 15 of the new property listings risers are in the north of England or Scotland, while four towns or cities in the Midlands also feature in the list.

Although Swindon has seen the biggest rise of 47.3 per cent in new property listings in the past month, Oxford at 17.5 per cent is the only other city in the south to feature in the list of biggest risers.

Winchester in south east England has seen new listings fall dramatically by 17.9 per cent in the past month, while Hull and Doncaster in the Yorkshire & the Humber region have seen them fall by 13.7 per cent and 12.5 per cent respectively.

The London property market has slowed in recent months.

However, the figures show the capital has seen an 8.1 per cent increase in new properties being listed in the past month compared to the previous month.

More than three quarters (78.1 per cent) of London boroughs have seen an increase in new properties being marketed in the past month.

Alex Gosling, chief executive of HouseSimple.com, said: “A stampede of sellers coming to market was expected after the General Election result, but that stampede never materialised.

“In fact, for the first few weeks there appeared to be a fair amount of caution and reluctance amongst sellers to market. This may have been a case of waiting to see if property prices might start to rise rapidly with the confidence generated by a stable, majority government.

“Now it appears sellers have waited long enough and we’re starting to see some movement.

“New stock levels are still quite low, but it will be reassuring for the market to see that two thirds of UK towns and cities have seen stock levels rise in the past month.

“The market still needs more stock to temper house price growth.

“One of the reasons why prices haven’t cooled and are seemingly on a relentless upwards trajectory has been a lack of new properties coming on to the market, especially in London.

“Hopefully we’re going to start seeing a rebalancing of supply and demand.”