The Edinburgh property market has seen “exceptionally strong” demand over the June 29 to July 14 period since restrictions were relaxed, according to the latest report from the capital city’s ESPC.
The report said:
- From June 29 to July 14, ESPC has seen a 39% year-on-year increase in the number of homes coming to market
- Over the same period, property valuation requests were up 120% compared to last year
- Web traffic sessions were up 75% compared to last year
- Viewing requests and home report downloads were up 240% and 71% respectively
- The number of closing dates which took place was up 36% compared to the same period last year
Paul Hilton, CEO of ESPC, said: “In the couple of weeks since restrictions on house moves were relaxed, there has been a significant rise in buyer and seller activity, well exceeding levels pre-COVID-19 in some cases.”
ESPC added: “During the same period, we have received over 12,000 viewing requests, up 240% compared to last year.
“Home Report downloads and schedule views were up 71% and 51% respectively …
“Many ESPC agents have reported that they have been exceptionally busy with enquiries from buyers and sellers looking to move.”
James Shipman, Director of Property Services at Neilsons, said: “The demand for our properties for sale in Edinburgh and the Lothians has been simply staggering.
“We have never experienced such a demand for properties like this before.
“Since the property market re-opened on 29th June, Neilsons have recorded a 88% increase in property detail page views on espc.com, a 403% increase in viewing requests, a 112% increase in Home Report downloads, a 148% increase in schedule downloads and 50% increase in property email alerts sent to prospective buyers compared to the same period last year.
“Neilsons properties were matched to 172,895 local buyers in June and July, giving an indication of how many active buyers there are locally right now.
“In addition, our 360 virtual tour product – bearing in mind the government guidance emphasis on ‘virtual first’ – has been a huge property market success generating 25,000 views for our clients’ properties since launch in spring.
“A question we are often faced with right now from prospective sellers is: ‘Is it a good time to sell given the pandemic?’
“We really recommend that anyone thinking of selling soon markets their property now to take advantage of this surge in activity whilst the market is considerably hot.
“With demand for properties comes notes of interest, closing dates being set and excellent sales prices being achieved if the property is well presented for the sale, accurately priced and professionally marketed. We are seeing that happen in the market right now and the advice is not to delay.”
Paul Hilton of ESPC added: “The high amount of property market activity we’ve seen in recent weeks is encouraging.
“The raising of the nil threshold for LBTT to £250,000 may also encourage more activity as home movers look to take advantage of the opportunity to save some money on property tax by moving before 31st March.
“However, we are still in the early stages of emerging from the lockdown restrictions.
“As time progresses, we will have a clearer idea of the medium term impact on the Scottish property market.”