Signs of hope for housing market
SELLERS have seen a surge in house buying as lockdown begins to ease, but the market isn’t out of the woods yet.
Purchase instructions and sale enquiries at Greater Manchester law firms and estate agents show the housing market is starting to kick back into life again in the north west.
Slater Heelis, which has offices in Sale, Timperley and another in Manchester city centre, saw enquiries getting back to almost pre-lockdown levels last month following the complete shutdown in April. During the strictest parts of lockdown, house viewings in person were impossible, but this prompted a move to online virtual viewings for estate agents.
Zara Banday, partner and head of the property department at Slater Heelis, said: “We have certainly seen an upswing in enquires in the past fortnight with levels hopefully heading towards pre-lockdown levels. Residential markets tend to be fuelled by confidence and we certainly see positive signs of a market bounce emerging in the north west and beyond.”
Many people hoping to buy homes or those already part way through the process before lockdown began soon
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found themselves stuck and unable to progress with purchases as things ground to a halt.
Ms Banday added: “The lockdown affected the residential market in a number of ways with transactions unable to complete and exchange of contracts on hold due to the logistical blockage on moving house while maintaining social distancing.
“Viewings were also impossible during this period and were among the first raft of lockdown changes brought in by the government.”
Now there are signs that that is beginning to change.
Following the reintroduction of viewings by the government, one estate agents, Thornley Groves, has seen more than 100 viewings take place.
The number of registered buyers has also doubled each week for the past three weeks, resulting in a 300 per cent increase, showing that lockdown has given buyers time to research properties for sale, signalling a kick-start to the market.
Ms Banday added: “What we think is driving these new enquiries is that people have taken the time during lockdown to reflect on their current situation and many have come to the conclusion that they need additional, or in some cases separate, living space.”
While there are positive signs, it’s still not clear if the housing market has put the lockdown shock behind it entirely.
Ms Banday said: “With so many people so uncertain about their future employment status, we won’t have a true reflection of the market until at least the autumn.
“We’d like to see the market stimulated by central government through the form of a stamp duty holiday on larger homes.”