City's booming property market one of hottest in the country

Buyers are battling ferociously to secure their dream homes, making the city’s property market bonkers according to one estate agent.The study which puts Sheffield as the second most in demand location in England says homes so far this year have sold with an average of 5.9 offers per sale and the average home costs £191,300.

Estate agency Hamptons found the top 10 in demand neighbourhoods in England are primarily concentrated in the South, as well as Yorkshire and the Humber – where bidding wars are pushing up house prices

Nicola Spencer, managing director of Spencer estate agent in Sheffield, described the market as ‘bonkers’. "Too much demand and not enough supply mean prices have gone through the roof,” she said.

"There are people moving here from London with money. We had a situation where a property in South West Sheffield on the market at more than £500,000 had 19 final offers and eight were from London.

"The house went for more than £100,000 over the asking price.”

She added a new build project on Lark Street in Walkley with 11 properties could have been sold in 24 hours. “We were receiving multiple bids and could have sold them within 24 hours of going live.

"The phones were going mental and we booked 30 to 40 viewing in a day.”

Fellow agent Stuart Goff, of Hunters estate agents, said: “This is the busiest I have known the market to be in 52 years of working.”Prices are up 10pc to 15pc year-on-year, said Mr Goff. “We have three-bed semi-detached houses that were selling for £170,000 18 months ago that are going for £200,000 now.”The south west of the city – which encompasses the postcodes S17 (Dore, Totley, Bradway), S11 (Nether Edge, Bents Green, Greystones), S10 (Ranmoor, Fulwood) and S8 (Woodseats) – is most in demand, and most expensive, said Mr Goff. “A two-bedroom terrace on the north side of the city will cost £50,000, in the south west it will cost £200,000.”The supply of homes for sale has halved since the beginning of the year and agreed sales at 5pc above asking is common, said Mr Goff. “We’re getting between 10 and 20 bids for some properties in the south west.”

Across the UK, the average house price in February 2016 was £205,555, while the latest figure stands at £250,340 – an increase of 21 per cent.

Comparing the four nations of the UK, Wales had the biggest increase in average house price over the past five years – 26 per cent - going from £142,711 in 2016, to £179,860 in 2021.

Northern Ireland isn’t far behind, showing a 24.18 per cent increase, with the average price rising from £118,850 to £147,592.

England’s average house price has gone from £220,626, to £268,291 – an increase of 21.6 per cent.

The figures come from a study, by international payment experts RationalFX, which compared the average price of a house across more than 400 areas of the UK.