Housing Market Update – Autumn 2020
What has happened in the housing market since we were able to re-open our branches in a safe and responsible way has dumfounded many commentators on the housing market. We were not able to operate for around 2 months from 23rd March to 18th May with our valuations and viewings being carried out virtually and by having conversations over the phone. Our teams worked from home looking after the sales we had agreed before lockdown to nurture these through to exchange of contract and completion. Working closely with our local solicitors and lenders this has in the main happened with buyers and sellers sticking with what they had agreed to do earlier in the year.
Our sales and new instruction activity picked up during June and July, with September seeing the busiest month ever for Robert Ellis in our 31 years of operating in the area – on one Saturday alone we agreed 12 property sales at our Long Eaton branch – but lets not kid ourselves, what happened in June and July made up for what didn’t happen earlier in the year. August remained busy but we definitely had a holiday feel with viewings, valuations and sales activity picking up again in September. We anticipate the market will remain buoyant as we move through October and although the effect of ending the furlough scheme will be a negative, we believe the stamp duty holiday will incentivise people to look to move home and make what is a significant saving on their moving costs. Looking forward again to next year (2021) we feel that as long as Covid-19 remains at the lower levels we have experienced during the summer months, people will continue to want to purchase their first property or move to a larger home. The pundits have got it wrong so far as they were promoting a significant fall in house prices, but August saw the highest increase in 16 years – we don’t expect a crash over the coming 12 months and hopefully the sales activity we are seeing will continue and property prices will hold – but only time will tell!
