New vendors rushed back into the market in the past week to rise more than 11% as overall new enquiry levels held steady after weeks of falls despite tough new coronavirus restrictions coming into force in Wales and across other regions, according to the latest Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker (YPST).

Web visits to own-branded estate agent websites remained at record levels, some 38% higher than the same week last year, while the spike in new vendors saw enquiry levels some 54% higher in the same period. Buyers were flat on the week but 45% up year-on-year, while landlords lost 4% and tenants grew nearly 5%, but both ended 25% and 19% higher, respectively than late October 2019, data up to midnight 25 October showed.

Yomdel provides 24/7 managed live chat services to 3,800 estate agent offices in the UK, handling more than a 1.5m chats per year. It has analysed the data and leads captured in live chat going back to January 2019, up until week ending 25 October 2020. The website visitor data is a sample across major estate agency groups in the UK and covers in excess of 42 million unique website visits back to January 2019.

Yomdel property sentiment tracker  (w/e 25 October 2020)

“This is still an exceptional market, but it’s important to keep things in perspective now. It’s certainly a case of ‘you’ve never had it so good’ with new enquiry levels holding at unseen record levels. But pressure is mounting on agents to get deals through as the huge demand is forcing lengthening delays in sales progression,” said Andy Soloman, Yomdel Founder & CEO.

“The uncertain economic outlook, a fast approaching deadline to benefit from the stamp duty holiday and increased coronavirus restrictions in Wales and across huge swathes of England and Scotland mean there is a real urgency out there. Agents and others are working really hard to find solutions to emerging bottlenecks to ensure transactions complete,” he added.

The YPST methodology establishes a base line average shown as 100% or 100, calculated according to average engagement values over the 62 weeks prior to the lockdown, and plots movements from there according to the volumes of people engaging in live chat, their stated needs, questions asked, and new business leads generated. Data is measured over full 24-hour periods.

New vendors gained 11.29%, or 16.33 points, to end the week on 131.43, which left them 31% above the pre-covid-19 62-week average and end weeks of slowing demand. They were 54% higher the same week in 2019.

Buyers paused for breath, dipping 0.33%, or 0.41 points, to close at 123.28, but remaining at their lowest level since late April. However, at a time of year when the market generally slows they were 45% above the same week 2019.

Landlords fell 4.18%, or 4.33 points, to finish at 99.08, just under the pre-covid-19 62-week average, but 25% higher than the same week in 2019.

After record falls last week, demand from tenants recovered 5.07%, or 4.68 points, to close at 97.01, almost 3% below the pre-covid-19 average but 19% higher than the same week last year.

Looking at the relationship between website visitor volumes, live chat volumes and the volume of leads generated, the data samples over 42 million visitors to estate agent websites from Jan 2019 – 25 October and shows how web traffic to estate agents’ websites is 38% higher than the same week last year. The volume of people using live chat and the numbers of new business leads captured are 47% and 57%, respectively, above the same week 2019.