We are pleased to confirm that we are experiencing the same upsurge in enquiries, and sales, as reported by Rightmove and in the media.
According to last weeks Sunday Times, pre-pandemic the average asking price of a house in the UK was £260,000, today it is £290,000. Likewise, there were 28,420 transactions a week pre-lockdown, this compares with 37,799 last week. Rightmove quote that more than £37bn worth of property sales were agreed in July – the busiest month for home buying for 10 years (£25bn sales in July 2019).
For Genesis Homes, initial interest after returning from lockdown in May saw a flurry of activity and an influx of enquiries, website traffic and sales. July was an incredible month, and August is following suit, even when compared with the heady days of January and February and the buoyancy of the market following the agreement over Brexit.
The announcement of a stamp duty holiday on 8th July, and interest rates at an all-time low, are keeping the market buoyant, and considering we are in the summer ‘holiday’ months, when traditionally people are away and less likely to be buying property, it is unprecedented.
Nicky Gordon, Managing Director at Genesis Homes commented “We have certainly had a busy couple of months and that’s increasing day by day. Our web traffic in July was up by 30% (compared to the same period 12 months ago) and the same for actual enquiries, which is a welcome, yet much needed boost for the industry. August is looking even better with nearly double the number of visitors. We are seeing a lot of new users visiting our website too with 75% being new users which backs up industry data. We introduced a new ‘live chat’ option to our website in March that had been steady away, but the last six weeks has seen a massive spike in conversations.”
Nicky added “We are seeing a real demand for properties in rural areas which is where Genesis Homes build most of its developments. When you combine the stamp duty holiday and low interest rates to the sought-after Cumbrian countryside, you’ve got a winning formula for both buyers and investors.”
We currently have homes for sale on existing developments at Quentin Park, Cumwhinton (only 3 homes remaining), St Bridget’s, Brigham (only 6 homes remaining) and The Orchards, Burgh by Sands (only 10 homes remaining). We recently commenced our latest development at Rheda Park near Whitehaven and are soon to start on site at Hackthorpe near Penrith, and Stainburn near Workington with pre-registered interest on each of the developments at all-time record high numbers.