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Tue 29 Mar 2022
Home movers anticipating a cooling in the housing market after a Covid-induced race for more space are finding that buyers are as keen as ever, with Leamington estate agency ehB Residential reporting that demand is continuing to outstrip supply.
ehB office manager Clive Thompson says there is still a strong appetite to move home, a sentiment echoed UK-wide, with property portal Rightmove stating that the current buyer-to-seller ratio is the greatest imbalance ever recorded at the start of the spring season.
“The market is still very hot,” he said, explaining that the supply and demand ratio means many vendors are seeing multiple offers for their properties. This enables them to choose the one most suited to their circumstances – often the buyer in the best position to move.
“But while there is continued buyer demand, people selling their homes are still able to find places to buy – as long as they are happy to have their own purchaser in place before setting their heart on something,” he explained.
The most popular properties are everything from three-bedroom semis to period terraced, semi-detached and detached properties, as well as edge-of-town executive homes.
“There are plenty of buyers and still a shortage of property. The pressure for space in family homes is immense and continues to drive the market. There’s no let up in demand.”
He adds that apartments, less popular during lockdown, when outdoor space was a huge draw, are now also regaining popularity, as evidenced by a number of recent sales across all price brackets.
“This is because first-time buyers initially may have thought the market would fall and that they would wait before making the biggest investment of their life. But now they can see the market is only moving in one direction over the past two years - up. Added to that, mortgage interest rates have risen slightly from an all-time low, so now is a good time to fix at a lower rate. Also, with Covid restrictions being removed, the need for private outdoor space is less important.”
UK-wide, sales are being agreed on around 22 per cent of properties within the first week of marketing, according to Rightmove, with half sold subject to contract within a fortnight – a statistic echoed at ehB.
“As always, in a market which favours sellers, the key to being first in the queue for a new property is to have agreed a sale before hunting for a new home,” added Clive.
With a big pool of buyers waiting to pounce on any new property coming onto the market, he suggests this spring could be a good time to sell.
"Hi Juliana, I was driving past your offices today and realised that I never contacted you to say thank you for all your help in the purchase of Villiers Street. I am so very sorry that it took me so long, it’s been a crazy few weeks! From my first property viewings with Clive to collecting the keys from Chris on completion day and all the parts in-between with yourself, I thoroughly enjoyed working with ehB. I saw lots of properties with an array of local estate agents and ehB were the most professional, knowledgeable and personable out of all of them (by a country mile!). You were fantastic at keeping track of the process the whole way through and really made me feel like an important customer. After speaking with many friends and family, it seems this is a very unique experience of an estate agents (particularly as a buyer) and therefore I really want you to know how appreciative I am. The house is really starting to feel like home already and I’m so pleased with the purchase. I have already sung the praises of ehB to my friends, family and colleagues. Once again, thank you for all your help in the purchase. All the best, G Sharp "