Property sales recover to pre-lockdown levels
There are clear signs that the property market is slowly starting to recover from the impact of Covid-19 as agents report an increase in new instructions and viewings.
This is supported by an article in The Guardian which quotes property selling website Zoopla as noting that property sales in most of England have swiftly rebounded to the same levels they were at immediately before lockdown. They also note that the average asking price of sales agreed in the last week was 6% higher than the same period in June last year. This is certainly more positive than the outlook given by Nationwide at the start of June who observed a 1.7% drop in house prices in May which was the biggest fall since February 2009.
The article notes, however, that London’s property market has not yet rebounded, possibly due to an increased number of people working from home and the commuting distance no longer being a major factor. It is reported that sales of property in London remain 24.8% lower than the week ending 8th March, despite the property market being reopen for 4 weeks. By way of comparison, sales in the Northwest were down just 0.9%. There is, one could argue, still potential for those looking to purchase a property in London to do so at reduced prices before any general market recovery is felt there.
Outside of London, the increase in market activity is described by Zoopla as ‘unprecedented’ and commented that “as buyers return to the market and agree to new purchases; we have seen the number of new sales agreed rise by 137% since the market reopened”. This positive outlook is shared by rival property website Rightmove which last month observed a large spike in searches for homes in the countryside with good transport links.
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