The latest data compiled by Yomdel, has revealed that the mini-boom in the property market has started to cool.
New enquiries from home movers dipped in the past week as new enquiries to estate agents slowed to indicate a possible cooling of the hugely overheated residential property market, the Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker (YPST) showed.
But overall levels, with the exception of tenants, remained significantly higher than the same week last year, with new vendor enquiries some 64% up on the first week of September 2019, and buyers and landlords some 48% and 34% higher, respectively.
Traffic to own-branded estate agent websites remained exceptionally strong indicating significant changes to consumer behaviour as people shift online with visitor counts some 34% above the Covid-19 62-week average running from January 2019 up until lockdown on 23 March this year.
New sales enquiries from vendors in the week ending midnight on 13 September dipped 6% to end a significant 68% above the 62-week pre-covid-19 average to indicate continued strong demand, but importantly this was 27% off the peak hit in the week ending 19 July. Buyers fell almost 6% on the week and landlords more than 3%.
Once lockdown was eased in May activity in the residential property market surged, with record enquiry levels fuelling strong demand and price increases. The suspension of stamp duty on the first £500,000 of a transaction also boosted activity levels, which initially stalled when covid-19 lockdown hit but rapidly recovered as restrictions on estate agent activity were eased.
Andy Soloman, Yomdel Founder and CEO, said:
“It’s all relative and while recent weeks do show a steady slowdown in volumes of new enquiries the market is still incredibly buoyant. We seem to be having a bit of an Indian Summer and the warm rays of sunshine are keeping the immediate outlook bright.
“But be warned, coronavirus is very much a lurking danger, new government restrictions are being applied and once again the general economic outlook is extremely uncertain as we get closer to an increasingly likely no-deal Brexit,” he added.
