UK Property Market returning strongly with viewings booked up by 188%

LONDON 21st MAY: An industry group formed by Coadjute – the Blockchain leader in PropTech – of leading property software businesses suggests that the UK housing market is now consistently showing signs of recovery with viewings booked up by 188% in the last week.

Whilst this is still 78% off its peak recorded before lockdown restrictions began, it indicates demand is returning and appetite is surprisingly strong.

The analysis comes from Coadjute’s new Property Market Insights report, compiled with industry leaders including Dezrez, Legal Marketing Services, MRI Software, Reapit, Redbrick Solutions and Search Acumen, covering approximately 50% of UK estate agents and a material number of conveyancing firms. The new report is intended to provide unprecedented breadth and detail on every aspect of estate agent and conveyancer workflow from initial sales enquiries through to viewings, exchange and completion, and is designed to help property businesses align their operations as activity returns to the market.

Registrations for property sales increased by 76% in the last week (week 20 in the estate agents’ calendar), and over a 4-week period were up by 89%, confirming our earlier predictions of latent demand in the market which is now driving a revival of activity. This is further validated by an increase in sales enquiries of 38% in the last week.

The surge in on-the-ground activity is also reflected in the conveyancing data, with the number of cases listed and quotes provided seeing an uptick over the last week. The number of exchanges saw an increase of 19%, whilst the sales completion figures recorded a modest decline of 8%, which suggests that cases put on hold through the lockdown are now filtering through to the exchange phase.

Coadjute believes that the industry is clearly adapting to a new way of operating, such as incorporating social distancing rules and new approaches to conducting property viewings and are optimistic about the figures seen at the front end of the sales pipeline. Given that consumers are now both able and willing to return to the property market, we look forward to seeing transactions filtering through the pipeline to offer stages over the coming weeks.

Dan Salmons, CEO at Coadjute, added:

“Thanks to the depth of the data provided by our partners in this report, we are getting an unprecedented insight into how the property market in the UK is returning as lockdown eases. Coadjute has said for a while that we felt the market was revving with the handbrake on, and now we are seeing the effect of starting to ease it off. Whilst we can’t tell what the final speed will be yet, we’re encouraged by the signs we are seeing”.

It is still important to note that most of the indicators remain well below market norms. However, the data is showing both how the industry is adapting and encouraging signs of continued demand.

Kindly shared by Coadjute