Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker – Vendor bounce back, while buyers and tenants also edge higher

7 JUNE 2021. Half-term last week appears to have reminded potential home-hunters to get back on the trail with buyers and tenant s edging higher, but news of property prices hitting new record highs helped spark renewed interest from potential vendors who jumped 16% on the week, the latest data from the Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker (YPST) showed.

Highlights (versus previous week):

TRENDS MOSTLY HIGH, BUT DROPPING

  • New Vendor enquiries:  UP 16% (last week DOWN 14%)(26% ABOVE AVERAGE, 32% BELOW 2020)
  • New buyer enquiries: UP 3% (last week DOWN 5%)(39% ABOVE AVERAGE, 28% BELOW 2020)
  • New landlord enquiries: DOWN 1% (last week DOWN 12%)(14% BELOW AVERAGE, 42% BELOW 2020)
  • New tenant enquiries: UP 9% (last week DOWN 8%)(25% ABOVE AVERAGE, 33% BELOW 2020)

The bleakest outlook remains with landlords, where enquiry levels fell to an all-time seasonal low, at 42% below the same week last year, and 15% below the same week in 2019, an indication perhaps that landlords may be suffering the greatest long-term impact of the COVID epidemic.

But it should not be missed that elsewhere all activity is still far above pre-COVID levels shown by the flat, green dotted line on the graphs. The bank holiday weekend and half term will have reminded many of their desire to relocate. However there are warning signs, that without growth in available housing stock, over time house hunters may lose impetus as traffic to own-branded estate agency websites fell a further 10% despite remaining some 20% above pre-COVID averages.

Yomdel provides 24/7 managed live chat services to 3,800 estate agent offices in the UK, handling more than a 2m chats per year. It has analysed the data and leads captured in live chat going back to January 2019, up until week ending 6 June 2021. The website visitor data is a sample across major estate agency groups in the UK and covers in excess of 54 million unique website visits back to January 2019.

YOMDEL PROPERTY SENTIMENT TRACKER (w/e 06 JUNE 2021)

Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker – Vendor bounce back, while buyers and tenants also edge higher

View and download this graph at: https://www.yomdel.com/property-sentiment-tracker

Andy Soloman, Yomdel Founder and CEO, said:

“There’s no question that property related behaviours are now dominated by online activities, evidenced in the now normal higher volumes, but there is a concerning downward trend in overall traffic for estate agents within the context of this year, and every effort needs to be made to entice new vendors and landlords on to the market.

“Whether landlords are prepared to weather the economic storm they face with pressures on all sides, from tenants in distress to taxation changes, or cash in on the opportunity to sell for a higher price will only become apparent in time. For now we watch and wait.”

The YPST methodology establishes a base line average shown as 100% or 100, calculated according to average engagement values over the 62 weeks prior to the first national lockdown on 23 March 2020, and plots movements from there according to the volumes of people engaging in live chat, their stated needs, questions asked, and new business leads generated. Data is measured over full 24-hour periods.

New vendors rose 16.49%, or 17.77 points, to end the week on 125.59, some 26% above the average, 32% below the same week last year during the initial lockdown, and 20% above the equivalent week 2019.

Buyers also rose 3.11%, or 4.18 points, to close at 138.79, 39% above the pre-covid-19 average, 28% below the same week 2020 and 36% higher than the equivalent week 2019 before coronavirus hit.

Landlords fell a further 0.63%, or 0.54 points, to 85.55, some 14% below the average, 42% lower than the same week last year, and 15% below the same week 2019.

Tenants rose 8.81%, or 10.13 points, to close at 125.06 some 25% above the pre-covid-19 average, 33% lower than the same week last year, but 3% above the same week 2019.

 

The following graph looks at the relationship between website visitor volumes, live chat volumes and the volume of leads generated. The data samples more than 54 million visitors to estate agent websites from Jan 2019 – 06 June 2021 and shows how web traffic (blue line) is now 5% lower than the same week last year. The volume of people using live chat (red line) and the numbers of new business leads captured (purple line) are 6% and 21%, respectively, above the pre-Covid 62-week average.

YOMDEL ESTATE AGENT WEBSITE TRACKER (w/e 06 JUNE 2021)

Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker – Vendor bounce back, while buyers and tenants also edge higher

View and download this graph at: https://info.yomdel.com/property-website-tracker

 

Kindly shared by Yomdel

Main article photo courtesy of Pixabay