Market Comment – February 2021

Firstly and most importantly, I trust and hope all our customers clients and indeed everybody is safe and well.

I know that these are difficult serious and challenging times for everybody and I would like to thank those once again on the frontline, putting themselves at risk to get us through this pandemic.

I have to say, February seemed to rush past and you will all know we had very cold weather and the reason I mention this is because occasionally the very cold weather seems to detour viewings and the appetite for viewings both in lettings and sales, but our statistics and figures show there was no such loss in appetite.

There were many statistics out in February, notably on February 17th, the BBC reported an 8.5% increase in house prices in 2020, amid the tax holiday, with England rising by 8.5%, England by 8.4% and Wales by 10.7%, although notable London was more subdued with a 3.5% increase, with a tiny drop in November and December.

I noted that Nicky Stevenson, the managing director at Fine & Country, commented “there was no escaping a lack of space for households, who suddenly found they were living on top of each other with little respite. This has powered annual growth that reached a six-year high.”

I was pleasantly surprised to see that our Crystal Palace office covers, West Norwood, was the capitals top hotspot with the average asking price increasing by 12%, stating the West Norwood offers well rated state and private schools, strong sense of community, a new leisure centre and recently opened picture house. It is no surprise that buyers are coming from more expensive areas such as Clapham and Balham because West Norwood is on the up.

Turning to our figures, our lettings registrations were up 6% on the same month last year, but the amount of moved in lets was 1% lower than the same month last year and because of the increase in prospective tenants, it is now 7/8 tenants per property.

Turning to the residential sales applicants, this was really highlighted by the number of extra new home buyers that registered, up 13% on the same month last year, whilst the second-hand residential market remained solid and steady.

I am looking forward to March, as I can really see there is a healthy appetite right across the property spectrum, with some exciting incentives from the government, I really believe we will see a spike in activity.

Once again, my best wishes to everybody and please stay safe and well and I will be reporting back to you next month.