Market Comment – January 2021

Please accept my apologies for the slight delay in Februarys market comment, however this is simply down to activity levels being so high in both residential sales, residential lettings and in new homes. A particular mention goes out to our unsung army of hero’s, the admin team and property management department, who 7 days a week, 365 days a year, manage the 2,000 properties predominantly in the borough of Croydon, reacting in these recent cold weeks to burst pipes and all manor of demands, which as I reflect have been met with exceptional customer service. All too often, it is the sales consultants from lettings, sales and new homes that are recognised. The army of administration, property management and accounts team ensure that the back end of our customer service matches the front customer facing end.

Turning to the market, January faced its challenges as a few of our staff tested positive for Coronavirus and accordingly those offices were closed and there were the logistics round this.

Our sales enquiries were up 4% on prospective purchasers on the year before and our lettings enquiries were up an amazing 13% on the previous year, with a number of city analysts expecting a property boom in 2021.

Like all of us, our main focus is the safety of our staff, customers, family and our friends and taking every precaution with government guidelines and 2020 has taught me once again to expect the un-expected.

So I am pleased to report to you, whilst all indicators are solid and stable for the first quarter, I would prefer to report back to you accurately at the end of this month.

I cannot finish this market comment without paying tribute and respects to a member of the Streets Ahead family, Callum Hayden, who sadly passed away in January. Callum was with this firm for nearly 5 years and had made many sincere friends with clients and colleagues and will be sorely missed by us all.

I look forward to reporting back to you with how the property market is performing later on in the month.