September Surge!

This week in five seconds

• Listings in second half September up +12% on first half
• Prime London experiencing an onslaught with listings +23%
• Agents struggling to keep up
• Delays in searches at local councils and valuations by banks as sales catch up
• Lenders increasingly withdrawing resulting in more failing offers

Listings surge across England

Agents are struggling to keep up with the supply of property coming onto the market. Despite facing the possibility of further lockdown agents are on back-to-back valuations, barely giving them time to actually list the properties they are instructed on.

The second half of September has seen a +12% increase in listings volume and this breaks down by region as follows:

South +15%
North +13%
London +10%
Midlands +8%

Many of these sellers are also looking to purchase property and take advantage of the stamp duty holiday whilst they can. Gardens are still a major draw and we are seeing agents struggle to sell inner city properties with no outside space.

Prime London again is experiencing the sharp end of this with a +23% surge in volume of listings for properties valued over £1m in the second half of September

Delays in searches at council level as volumes rise

As levels of properties with agreed sales continue to rise, we are seeing significant delays in local searches being returned to solicitors. Some are taking 6+ weeks.

Vendors should consider instructing their solicitor to put in their application for searches before they go under offer in order to save time on this.

Challenges with mortgage applications as lenders retrench

We are also seeing more and more issues with lenders as they become under pressure with the volume of mortgage applications - issues range from products being withdrawn after making an agreement in principle to valuations taking weeks to book in.

With the local agents desperately rushing around trying to list all this stock it is more important than ever to stay front of mind and ensure your property is being focused on. Movewise delivers this by ensuring you are with an active agent and your property sale is being properly managed. Give us a call if you’d like any support.

Have a great weekend all.

The Movewise Team.