Property instructions, viewings and offers have all bounced back since the Stamp Duty holiday was announced in July, a major regional agency has claimed.
Andrews Property Group has revealed it received 560 instructions last month across its network of 48 branches with physical viewings up 45% between June and July and accepted offers up 12%.
The agent said it conducted 6,000 viewings in July – around 200 a day – compared with just 20 in April when the market was on lockdown.
Valuations were also up a third (33%) in July, with 879 carried out last month compared with eight in April.
David Westgate, group chief executive of Andrews Property Group, said: “What a difference four months makes.
“In April viewings and instructions across the industry fell off a cliff as the country was gripped by coronavirus and the Government asked us to stay at home.
“But the rebound has been swift as lockdown eased and the Chancellor’s stamp duty announcement at the start of July gave the market a timely boost.
“Buyers and sellers alike have shown renewed vigour in the past six weeks. With a lengthy window of opportunity to purchase before the Stamp Duty holiday comes to an end, we expect buyer activity to remain buoyant over the coming months.
“We saw an immediate uplift in valuations and instructions since Stamp Duty was frozen, with sellers keen to take advantage of motivated buyers and more confidence to list thanks to stable house prices.
“It won’t be all plain sailing from here, but the Government has shown how important it sees a healthy and stable property market for the general wellbeing of the overall economy.
“House prices have proven to be extremely resilient in the past when faced by strong economic headwinds, which suggests the market is well placed to cope with some potentially heavy bumps in the road ahead.”
Why were they doing any viewings in April at all?
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Also, 200 viewings a day, across 48 offices, so an average of a little over 4 a day… so not that busy then?! and yes, why was anyone open in April?? Their office local to me is still on part time hours, while their competitors are all back to “normal”.
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So about 4 viewings per branch, per day on average and about 11.6 (call it 12) instructions per branch (average).
That is pretty impre… erm… average?
And as for comparing any month to April… come on… ffs.
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Has anyone else noticed the rush to the bottom in this Covid world as shown by corporates in particular?
The “no speculative viewings” guidance from MCH&LG seems to have been discarded in favour of driving throughput to their referral businesses, particularly financial services.
Hence the proud boast heard promptly after the lockdown eased, “we’re open with all our staff” long before the post Stamp Duty boom was evident.
Risking staff and client safety obviously seems a small price to pay.
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