Record demand for home moving support was maintained in the past week as visitor volumes to estate agent websites recovered to pre-coronavirus lockdown levels, and new business enquiries continued to flood in, the latest data from the Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker (YPST) shows.

For the week ending midnight 24 May, new enquiries from landlords wishing to let properties were the strongest of the gainers, rising almost 10% over the previous week.

Vendor and buyer enquiries remained almost unchanged at sustained record levels hit last week, while tenant enquiries dipped slightly after weeks of surging pent-up demand.

“Demand from home movers went through the roof a week ago when lockdown was eased, and the past week has seen those gains consolidate in the market. Enquiry levels remain at record levels,” said Andy Soloman, Yomdel founder and CEO.

“Customers are chomping at the bit and flooding digital channels with enquiries, with many requesting virtual viewings and valuations.

“In fact direct requests for video valuations via Yomdel Live Chat have shot up with almost 13% of vendors asking if it’s possible,” he added.

After record gains the previous week, new vendor enquiries dipped 2.35% or 3.27 points to 135.88 but remained almost 36% above the pre-covidid-19 average to signal ongoing strong demand to get properties listed for sale.

Buyers steadied at the lofty all-time-time record heights already reached, rising just 0.1%, or 0.21 points, to 209.11, with demand more than double that usually seen.

Landlords were the stars of the week, racking up a further 9.84% growth, or 13 points, to finish at 145.11, strongly above the pre-covid-19 average and at their highest level since before 2019.

Demand from tenants cooled slightly dropping 7.4%, or 18.5 points, to finish at 231.61, but remaining a huge 132% above the pre-covid-19 average.

“There remain huge hurdles to estate agents, conveyancers, mortgage lenders and removers actually getting transactions completed and people moved. To make this happen people are going online and seeking immediate help via live chat in greater numbers than ever before,” said Soloman.

“Interestingly, they are also signalling that they want technology to support them and are prepared to embrace virtual video valuations and viewings, and other arm’s length processes if it means they can start the process to move. These changes in consumer behaviour are not going away anytime soon,” he added.