Record house prices and record savings!

- Thu 03 Sep 2020

Whilst we certainly didn’t see 2020 turning out the way it has, I also believe that nobody would have predicted the record levels of demand for housing following such a situation as we found ourselves in either!

With such high demand, sellers are seeing their homes secure a buyer not only more quickly than perhaps they anticipated but also for a higher sale price than they originally planned. This does of course mean that if they are buying another home, they will have to potentially pay that premium again on their next home.

Following analysis after the lockdown on all property sales across our 30+ office network spanning from Taunton, Somerset through Mid, East and South Devon and across Cornwall to Lands End, we are achieving an average of 97.8% of our properties asking prices. If you compare this against a similar period last year or in many historic market places, this figure would be around 95% of asking prices, highlighting the upturn in demand and what people are prepared to pay for their next home.

Many will wonder whether that makes much difference to them, so let me highlight what that means in monetary terms. The average sold house price in 2020 to the end of July was £248,995, applying this price to the two figures above, the difference equates to a rather substantial figure of £9,213!

We at Bradleys are not the only Estate Agents that are experiencing the heightened activity, although following figures from Zoopla Property Group, the average Estate Agent is achieving 96.3% of asking prices and therefore we do appear to be achieving more than the average Estate Agent for our sellers, a difference of £5,023 in fact.

How do Bradleys achieve more for their sellers than other Estate Agents? Well there are many factors to consider when selling what is most likely your largest asset, and the first one that springs to my mind is how appealing the property is, closely followed by how many people get to see the property. The more people that are interested, the quicker a home is likely to sell and the higher the price is likely to be agreed.v

We have worked for many years on modern methods to market each home and ensure we promote them far and wide. The national websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla are a great tool for that but it doesn’t stop there. As the largest Estate Agent in the West Country we are often the first port of call for many homebuyers, and therefore have the largest database of buyers, both active and passive, in the market place. Our property videos, social media channels and property tours have been common place with us for years and so we have tried and tested the best way of reaching buyers and then ensuring we get the most motivated buyers to see our properties.

Is now a good time to sell or buy a house? The new found activity across the housing market is inspiring more and more people to move, the stamp duty holiday that is available until 31st March 2021 is certainly helping to drive the trend for people to move too. This trend is providing homebuyers with more choice every week, however, highlights that people must be in a position to buy if they see a home they like or there is a very good chance they will lose it to someone else.

The advice from me for anyone thinking whether they should move or not is to look into your finances through a Mortgage Advisor with whole of market advice available, if you have the desire and can afford then now is a great time to move. More choice, cheaper mortgage rates and less tax than ever before (during the stamp duty holiday) makes it a simple decision. I will add a word of caution - March 31st is not long in property transaction terms so don’t wait, start taking action sooner rather than later!

3 options for you to do next..

Contact one of our whole of market Mortgage Advisors

Arrange a free, no obligation valuation

Contact your local Bradleys Team

 

Kai Logan - Marketing Director

Kai Logan
Group Marketing Director