As an indication of the frenzied property market, this may take some beating - an agent has had 18 viewings on a house in 24 hours.
“The past few months has been one of the busiest markets we have seen in years as the combination of lockdown, the stamp duty holiday and the five per cent mortgage [deposit] scheme has created the perfect conditions for buyers to look to move house” says Bruce King, director of Cheffins in Saffron Walden.
“We have seen bidding wars on multiple properties and in fact, a house which we launched this week at £1.2m, saw 18 viewings booked in 24 hours and looks set to go to best and final offers.
“There has been a massive lack of stock at the upper end and there is a raft of buyers out there, all of whom are getting frustrated by the lack of opportunities in the market. The number of London-based buyers looking to move to Saffron Walden and the surrounding villages has more than doubled since the pandemic struck.”
King says one of the other drivers in the market has been ‘accidental savers’ - those people who have managed to increase their deposits by saving during the three lockdowns so far in the pandemic.
“The arrival of spring, the vaccination roll out, the prospects of pubs opening and life going back to normal has had a huge psychological effect on people. The combination of these factors is what is encouraging people to take the plunge and sell up and the majority who I speak to are taking a pragmatic view on saving on stamp duty with this being a positive of course, but not an essential” King concludes.
The frenzy is happening across the country.
Mark Manning, managing director of Yorkshire-based Manning Stainton, says: “There’s an unquenchable thirst for property across every corner of the market and the average price being achieved by our team now stands at 99.4 per cent asking price.
“This unprecedented level of demand has led to many best and final offer scenarios with our team having to carefully manage the expectations of buyers through that process.
“We believe that whilst the Stamp Duty deadline has and remains a key driver for those buyers looking in the market today, even beyond its progressive end in June and September it will not change significantly the level of demand we are seeing and prices will continue to rise.”
Do you have other spectacular examples of how the market is operating right now? If so, please either leave a comment below or drop us a line at press@estateagenttoday.co.uk.
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It's 1988 all over again. Look how that ended.
I trust these were virtual viewings not in person ones. What's the guidelines on clean done and time delay between viewings again...?
In the rarefied market of PCL, where homes go for £1.2m and often much, much more, I imagine they play by their own rules.
Although, having said that, with the way prices have gone in London lately, £1.2m probably wouldn't get you much more than a fairly mundane three-bed semi in an OK suburb of the capital.
25 viewings and 2 no-shows (27 arranged in total) in 24hrs on a house with land in Etherley Lane, Bishop Auckland in a 24hr period in July 2020. We were officially out of lockdown. Half hour interval viewings ensuring social distancing. Front and back doors open - no touch policy and 5-10 minutes in the house per viewing. Literally, in the front door and out the back and rooms viewed from the hall / landing. Sale completed August. Self build plot of land in Maiden Law, Lanchester, with over 20 drive-by informal appointments in February 2021. Sale progressing.
Great that houses are selling strongly. Now is the time to work with your clients to make sure there information for the sale is ready asap. At PIP Vaults we provide a place to store and share the information with potential buyers to speed up conveyancing and reduce fall throughs.
Some agents respond that that is the conveyancers job. I believe that estate agents have the opertunity to win this sector of the business and increase fees, or certainly stop the reducing fees. It is the estate agents who are liable to disclose "Material facts".
Why? Is their goal to fill their day or sell the property? Sounds like poor buyer qualification. You can only sell it once.
We average 6 viewings per sale. I’d rather sell three different properties in that time.
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