Market Harborough is the busiest property market in England and Wales, according to data shared exclusively with This is Money.

The pretty market town in Leicestershire was found to be the location where the highest number of sales have taken place in the last year, as a proportion of the population.

Analytics firm PropertyData assessed the number of sales per 1,000 households between the summers of 2024 and 2025 to establish the busiest markets - and those at the other end of the spectrum where sales have died off. 

It looked at transactions across 259 towns and cities across England and Wales and found vast distortions between them.

While Market Harborough recorded 54.3 transactions per 1,000 households a year, at the other end of the scale, Dagenham in East London saw just 19.2 sales per 1,000 households.

It means a property in Market Harborough is more than two and half times more likely to change hands than a property in Dagenham.

Market Harborough is a quintessential English market town and, according to Nez Carey, a branch manager at estate agent Connells, the market there is booming.

'Market Harborough is one of the best towns in Leicestershire and its booming market really reflects that,' says Carey.

'We've seen really high levels of transactions this year, and there's lots of interest in the local property market. 

'People are drawn here as it has everything you could need – it's really well connected and great for commuters, with London just an hour away by train, it feels very safe and has great schooling, there's plenty of shops, restaurants and markets, and the town has a wonderful community feel. 

'This all makes for a really desirable place for investment, and we therefore have a really strong rental market here, as well as lots of new-build sites, bringing more choice of homes for local residents.'

Other towns that are seeing a high number of transactions as a proportion of their populations are the towns of Beverley and Northwich.

Beverely, a market town in East Yorkshire, is full of historic pubs and well-rated restaurants. It is home to one of England's largest and most magnificent parish churches, Beverley Minster.

Northwich in Cheshire, another thriving market town, is full of independent businesses, shops and a monthly artisan market. 

It is also a town that likes to put on events, holding the Northwich Festival of Arts and the Now Northwich festival.

David Kennerley, branch manager, of Swetenhams estate agents in Northwich says the property market has been 'really busy.' 

'Its central location in Cheshire draws people to the area as it offers good access to the motorway, rail networks, and the rest of the county,' says Kennerley.

'It's surrounded by many villages with properties that sell for well over a million, as well as homes that are more reasonably-priced, too.

'I think the most attractive thing about Northwich is that it's a traditional market town, with picturesque Edwardian architecture and a blend of new buildings that modernise the town slightly. 

'We have a great selection of private and public schools too, which all draw a range of buyers to the town.'

Where is the property market dead?

At the other end of the spectrum the town of Dagenham in East London has only recorded 19.2 property transactions per 1,000 households.

Rotherham in South Yorkshire and Dudley in the West Midlands are not much better with just over 23 transactions per 1,000 households recorded over the year.

Wolverhampton has also seen only 23.9 property transactions per 1,000 households over the year.

However, unlike with some of the other names on the list, Wolverhampton does have regeneration and new homes in the pipeline, which could see the market pick up.

Among these is the City Centre West development , which will include over 1,000 new homes and 70,000 square feet of new shops, cafes, restaurants and public spaces.

There is also Canalside South, a new waterfront development of 533 new energy efficient homes located near Wolverhampton train station. 

What the busiest locations have in common

While the towns with the highest rate of transactions may not be geographically close to each other, there are several common threads linking them together according to buying agent Jonathan Hopper.

'Many are in what I call the "Goldilocks Zone", says Hopper. 'This isn't a physical place so much as a place on the value chain.

'Central to their popularity is what they offer people fleeing London for better value - prices 40 per cent to 50 per cent below those in the capital yet with a sub-60 minute commute, which has become the magic formula post-pandemic.

'Take Market Harborough or Leighton Buzzard - buyers here can get twice the space for half what they might pay in London Zone 3, plus a garden and a genuine community.'

Many of the areas seeing very high transaction numbers also have a strong supply of new homes being built to meet strong buyer demand, according to Hopper.

'Commutable, mid-market towns like St Neots - which is vastly more affordable than nearby Cambridge - have quick links to London and bristle with new developments that enable first-time buyers to enter the market.

'With many developers offering juicy incentives to buyers, the high numbers of new build completions in towns like this helps sales remain buoyant even when national transaction volumes are more subdued.

The numbers are also being skewed by more landlords selling up, some due to tax and regulation changes, while others are simply cashing in to re-invest elsewhere.  

Hopper adds: 'Another factor that's boosting transaction numbers in some areas more than others is 'landlord repositioning' - a surge in the numbers of homes being listed at highly competitive prices by former buy-to-let landlords.

'Across the market, around 18 per cent of current listings are former rentals, compared to a historical average of 10 per cent. 

'This sounds high, but for many landlords it's a case of strategic portfolio management rather than panic selling. 

'After selling in response to regulatory changes and rising mortgage costs, many go on to reinvest in different property types or locations.'

What the deadest locations have in common 

At the opposite end of the scale, the quietest markets fall into two distinct camps - those that have become unaffordable and those that are not seeing any major new housebuilding.

'High-value cities such as Oxford and London are constrained by affordability, with a large share of renting and fewer owner-occupier moves, while older industrial towns like Rotherham and Dudley lack new supply and equity mobility,' adds Hopper.

'In both cases the result is the same: fewer households moving and less churn in the market.

Hopper believes we are seeing a new take on the old two-speed property market. 

He adds: 'Transactions are strongest in places where new housing supply meets realistic pricing. 

'Landlord sales and strong first-time buyer interest have given affordable towns an extra lift, but the divide is structural too. 

'Where buyers can afford to move and new stock is being built, the market stays active -where they cannot, it slows dramatically.'

The fewer transactions could also be to do with a lack of affluence in some of the towns. 

Among the 10 towns with the lowest property transactions per 1,000 households, two were listed on the latest English Indices of Deprivation 2025, which uses data largely from 2023-24. 

Both Dagenham and Leicester feature among the top 10 most deprived local authority districts based on overall rank.

As many as 38.4 per cent of the population of Dagenham are living in what the Government defines as income deprived households. 

Meanwhile, 35.5 per cent of households in Wolverhampton are also defined as income deprived.