New property listings across the UK fell 13% in July, with Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh recording the biggest falls of 30% compared to the previous month, according to the latest Property Supply Index by online estate agents House Simple.

While activity in the property market is usually lower during the summer than the rest of the year, the stock of properties up for sale has been at low levels well before the summer.

A quarter of the towns and cities that saw the biggest falls in new property listings in July were in the south west of England, said HouseSimple, which looked at the number of properties listed on Rightmove in July compared to June in more than 100 major towns and cities across the UK and all 32 London boroughs.

HouseSimple said that London has ‘serious’ property supply shortage, with new stock levels down nearly 15% in July.

Bexley was the capital’s borough to record the biggest fall of 31% while Kensington & Chelsea, a favourite with foreign buyers, saw new property listings fall by a quarter.