Pictured: Brian Holt's Coventry city centre valuer David Hives

Property sales in Coventry have soared in the past month despite reports of a drop in demand nationally for housing.

Sales at the city centre branch of estate agency Brian Holt increased by 50% in October compared with previous months.

Coventry city centre manager Shelina Nessa explained: "Houses are selling across all price ranges. We are marketing at reasonable asking prices and therefore selling quite close to the asking price. 

"We are finding a lot of parents buying for the kids or providing a large deposit as savings are not gaining much interest.

"We have plenty more buyers on our mailing list and a healthy pipeline of properties about to come onto the market - we had a 39% increase in valuations last month.  We are expecting the current situation to continue in the same vein, although it's likely to become a little quieter over Christmas, which happens even in a buoyant market."

Latest figures from property analyst Hometrack show a national drop in housing demand - with requirements falling by 0.2 % in October. But this situation, which covers the whole UK, is not affecting Coventry and Warwickshire according to Brian Holt figures.

"The thing is this study looks at the average for the UK and of course includes London which accounts for a very large percentage of the overall housing market so by definition is going to be skewed to give an inaccurate picture of the country as a whole. 

"Properties in Coventry city centre are remaining very popular and are sensibly priced making them attractive for first and second time buyers and well as property investors and buy to let landlords. There is a ready and constant market for rental properties thanks to our two universities and their very extensive postgraduate departments which means buy to let landlords have an instant market. 

"Some of the sales are going to people who feel Coventry offers better value per square foot than some of the surrounding towns and villages - and Coventry city centre has undergone a number of improvements in recent years making it an increasingly attractive place in which to live."