We asked Andy Sims, managing director of Underhills Estate Agents to give us an Exeter Property Market update. There’s no denying that since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the property market has been booming, but now that things are trailing off, how is the property market shifting? Andy explains all…
Exeter Property Market Update
“The biggest thing to happen in the property market in the last 18 months has been the surge in pent-up demand for property. There is no doubt that Covid-19 has had a huge effect on the property market, driving people’s desires to own their own property and relocate to Devon. It’s very much a seller’s market with demand outstripping supply, which has driven property prices up.
Underhills Estate Agents
At Underhill Estate Agents we are experiencing a high number of viewers competing against each other to purchase. This highlights even more strongly as a buyer to put yourself in the greatest position you can, in order to be the best option for a seller. That means selling your property before finding one, getting your mortgage in principle ready, and choosing a good-quality solicitor to take care of the transaction.
Video Tours
Video tours are the most recent thing that estate agents are offering potential buyers to scope out properties before they view them. Estate Agents have been relatively quick to have some kind of offering for this. It’s an essential marketing tool and we felt it was important to lead the way with this. Being one of the first estate agents who were able to offer this on all property listings, free of charge, we experienced sales throughout the first lockdown from people buying property through video tours alone. We had the highest sale numbers during the first lockdown for this very reason.
Stamp Duty Holiday
The market has also been driven by the stamp duty holiday, which ended on the 30th September 2021. The biggest savings of up to £15,000 ended on 30 June, but buyers in England and Northern Ireland were able to save up to £2,500 if they bought a home before the end of September. However, now that it is over this is not expected to stop the high demand for property. First Time Buyers will still pay £0 stamp duty on properties up to £300,000.
Currently, the market is seeing fewer properties go to market, which is only adding to the surge in prices and demand for property. Lending is still very easy with low-interest rates so the ability to buy is there. As for the future of the property market, I feel that supply will steadily increase and prices will potentially stabilise, it will be an interesting rest of the year and leading into 2022.”