Rightmove says vast majority of buyers will go ahead after lockdown

A study by Rightmove suggests that 94 per cent of buyers and sellers currently in the market are determined to go ahead with their plans after lockdown.

The survey was conducted by the portal on a live webinar when people if their plans before lockdown had now changed. 

Some 40 per cent buyers and sellers said they were going ahead as planned and 54 per cent said they had postponed their plans for now but were planning to continue after the lockdown ends.

The portal says this determination coincides with early signs that more home-hunters are researching and searching now in an effort to move home once the government signals it is safe to do so. 

Visits to Rightmove initially dropped by 40 per cent at the start of lockdown but have been recovering slowly over the past few weeks. This week they are up over 20 per cent when compared with the first few days of lockdown.

Most of the properties that were on the market for sale before lockdown have stayed on the market, with total available stock for sale down just 2.2 per cent. 

Rightmove’s commercial director and housing market analyst Miles Shipside says: “The resolve of buyers and sellers to carry on with their sale is clear, whether it’s those who are going through the conveyancing process already or those who currently have their home on the market or want to buy when lockdown ends. 

“The longer people are spending in their homes the more they may be considering not just a new home but also a new location, and are starting to research and search for their next move, leading to this slow but steady recovery in activity. 

“It’s very early days for the market and will still take some months for the industry to find its feet but these signs are encouraging.”

Meanwhile there are signs of a shift in the percentage of people considering a move from the city they currently live in, with agents also reporting increased interest in smaller towns.

This time last year, 42 per cent of Londoners enquiring about a property were looking to move outside of the capital, and this has risen to over half (51 per cent) this April.

There is a similar trend in Edinburgh where 60 per cent of residents are looking to move outside, up from 53 per cent in April 2019. In Birmingham, half of those living there are enquiring inside the city and half outside the city, up from 45 per cent looking outside the city last year.

And there are similar shifts in other cities including Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow and Bristol.

Shipside says: ”It’s not unusual for there to be a large proportion of would-be buyers considering a move out of a city if they’re looking for a more affordable place to buy for the first time or to trade up but get more for their money, but there’s been a notable shift during lockdown of more contemplating out-of-city moves. 

“It remains to be seen how people’s commutes may change when lockdown is over. Some people may already be thinking of moving further out from their current place of work if they can perhaps work from home a few days a week, which opens up a number of new areas they had never considered before.”