The National Picture
On Wednesday 27th May, visits to Rightmove exceeded six million in a day for the first time since its launch in 2000. This is an increase of 18 per cent on the comparable day of 2019.
Rightmove has reported that not only has it experienced an increase in traffic to its site in the past two weeks, but that searches are turning into action with record levels of email and telephone leads sent via Rightmove, also up 18% on the same day last year.
It also reports that 28% of people who were not planning a move before lockdown are now entering the market.
Coulsdon and Purley
So what’s happening in our area? Well, if we take a look at the period from 18th-31st May 2019 and compare it to the same period in 2020, our applicant registrations at Walter & Mair have surged by a whopping 128%!
If we extend this period from 1st January to 31st May, the number of applicants registering has seen a year on year increase of 15% showing that within Walter & Mair there are extremely healthy buyer levels despite nearly two months of lockdown.
Of these buyers who are registering 46% are from London Boroughs (excluding Croydon), 29% are from other posctodes within Croydon and only 15% are living in Coulsdon and Purley. It is evident that there is strong sentiment from people to move further out of London, whilst wishing to maintain access to good transport links and be within the catchment of the superb schools that our area offers.
As expected, viewing figures from 1st January to May 31st have decreased as we had a period of 8 weeks where it was only possible for us to conduct Video tours. These have fallen year on year by 18%. We would expect that by the end of July, the viewing figures for 2020 year to date will have exceeded last years figures.
There has been an increase in the number of offers made (from 1st January to May 31st) by 11%, and there has certainly been no shortage of offers in the past 2 weeks.
We have always considered Coulsdon and Purely to be in a bubble when it comes to the property market, as it has always been buoyant despite some unfavourable economic conditions. The statistics that we have seen over the past 2 weeks and so far this year, have been in line with our expectations and confirm that the desire to move into our area (and within the area) remain strong.
How our virtual viewing process (Video Tours) work
We have been active throughout lockdown, conducting 1:1 video tours with prospective buyers. Since reopening our office and being allowed to conduct physical viewings two weeks ago, it has been busier than ever, and buyer sentiment is strong. We are still conducting 1:1 video tours in the first instance and we’ll continue to do so for the foreseeable future. These are true video tours and are at no extra cost to our clients. We do not upload them to the portals as we believe it is crucial to control who sees them and conducting a 1:1 zoom tour, allows us to further qualify a buyer and answer any questions they may have.
We have seen other versions of online viewings presented in many different ways, but we remain certain that a 1:1 video tour remains the best option for our vendors and buyers.
If you have any questions about this whether you are on the market already or are thinking about moving soon, then we would love to help you make your home moving dreams a reality. So if you have any questions not covered in this blog, please feel free to email me on toby@walterandmair.co.uk or call on 020 8660 6674 and let’s get you moving.
