Up until last Monday, Northern Ireland estate and lettings agents could only sit on the sidelines and watch as the English property market opened up and gained momentum.

Yesterday marked Northern Ireland’s first day back in the game and members of The Guild of Property Professionals are already reporting a flurry of activity in the region.

Managing Director of CPS Property, Art O’Hagan, says the housing market is back open again, it is healthy, alive, and very buoyant presently.

“As expected from the enquiries we received over the past few months, we are currently dealing with the pent-up demand that has built up over the lockdown period.”

Daniel Henry, Partner at Bensons, agrees saying that many ongoing transactions were placed on hold during the 12 weeks of lockdown.

“As a consequence, when we returned on the 15th we had to deal with a surge of pent up demand. There were a large number of viewings needing to be organised and a significant number of new listings to be measured and inspected.”

Henry says that he is now back in the office with key members of the sales team returning to work having been on the furlough scheme.

“Our office has been adapted to facilitate social distancing. Initially we continue to operate a closed-door policy with access by appointment only.

“Our business remains heavily dependent on communication with our vendors and prospective clients.

“Whilst a certain amount of this can be done virtually, key aspects of the sales process remain best done on a face-to-face basis.

“Our strength has always been the personal qualities of our staff and this will be a major balance which we will need to maintain while not compromising their safety moving forward until lockdown measures are totally lifted.”

“We remain confident that the increased level of enquiries will continue in the short term.

“Demand continues to outstrip supply, and this will remain the driving force in the marketplace,” says Henry.

“Our marketplace remains well placed to move forward, having suffered under the uncertainty of Brexit.

“We remain confident that prices within NI will be less volatile than other regions within the UK, given the lower base from which they are starting.”