Since agents were able to open again on the 13 May, combined internet enquiries for sales and lettings have been over 10% higher than they were before lockdown.
Even before agents could safely open again, on the lettings front, Zoopla showed a 30% increase in demand for rental homes over the two weeks up to 14 April.
Rightmove reported enquiries up 70% within the first four hours of agencies returning to business and by May 27th had over 6 million visits to its site.
Two of the major property portals are now processing 4 leads per minute compared to 1.7 per minute at the beginning of the year.
Numbers of valuations and instructions have increased exponentially over the last two weeks as buyers and sellers return to the market wanting to make up for lost time.
Sales Manager Deborah Thorpe also reports a strong increase in buyer activity since restrictions were eased, buyer confidence continues to grow illustrated by the fact that none of the ongoing sales fell through during the lockdown period.
We’ve seen a similar with over 600 rental enquiries during lockdown, and since restrictions were lifted in May, we’ve also seen an increasing number of enquiries for Virtual and Physically Shielded Viewings.
You may also be wondering what’s the mortgage market like at the moment?
I asked Steven Bates the Director of Giraffe Financial for his views and comments:
“April to June 2020 has been a whirlwind in our mortgage office with clients seeking advice on remortgages and purchases, both residential and buy to let, in huge volumes!
Mortgage lenders have been inundated with applications and with valuers unable to attend properties again until recently, thanks to Covid 19 restrictions, we have seen an almighty traffic jam develop of cases which have been approved yet subject to valuations, which have been delayed.
Fortunately, this traffic jam is starting to ease and most applications have now received a date when a valuation is going to take place but with some solicitors still furloughed time challenges remain.
At Giraffe Financial we have access to around 70 lenders who all offer different types of mortgage products. Lenders who offer higher loan to value ratios of 90% or more in the residential market place have seen a huge increase in demand and in most cases have temporarily withdrawn from that side of the market and put their maximum lending at 85% or less with one or two exceptions.
On the buy to let side of things lending is now capped at 75% LTV and be prepared for all lenders to ask for your contingency plan in respect of Covid-19 as the underwriters seek to ensure that their exposure is carefully assessed.
The good news is that when applying for a mortgage below these maximum LTV ratios that deals are being offered efficiently as usual and so if you can put down an extra 5% deposit then now is the time to do so.
By putting yourself in a position to move quickly with a purchase then this could be appealing to vendors in this current market place which could see you getting a small discount from what you may have purchased a property for in February. That is the strategy we are suggesting our clients adopt but, as it stands, the housing market appears to be holding up quite well and discounts are hard to find!”
All in all, these encouraging figures would suggest that Lockdown was just a delay that stopped a steadily growing property market in its tracks.
That growing market was created and stimulated by the end of all the Brexit frustration and uncertainty that had suppressed the market for so long.
Now restrictions are being eased, people are keen to get going again in a safe and responsible manner, so the property market seems set to see more positive figures coming over the next few months.
