News

A statement from HM Treasury issued last week stated that completed transactions in September were 21.3% higher than August due to the Stamp Duty holiday. Locally we also see transaction levels increase month on month and there will probably be another increase when the October figures are released. Buyer demand is strong. Nationwide issued a statement this week saying, "annual house price growth accelerated to 5.8%", but properties coming to the market need to be priced sensibly to attract thes...

Activity surrounding the local property market (we have arranged close to 100 new viewings every day this week!) continues to be buoyant despite all of the problems created by the Coronavirus. However, there is a bottleneck between agreeing to buy or sell a house and completion of contracts. Mortgage applications are taking longer to process, solicitors, are swamped at present and finding their workload increasing by the day. Local searches are taking longer, and Birmingham Council is now quotin...

Despite the amount of uncertainty created by the new COVID restrictions and new guidelines activity once again continued in the same vein as previous weeks. We registered another 189 applicants, arranged 272 viewings and received 48 offers. We are also pleased to report that completion numbers have finally started to increase, and we expect an increased number of buyers to move into their new homes this month Are you looking to sell? Now could be a great time to take advantage of the dema...

The local property market - October week 1 As mentioned in previous weeks, front end activity continues to be strong and once again, a good number of houses sales have been agreed this week. Despite strong sales since the end of the lockdown period, the time taking for them to complete has increased. Post lockdown obtaining a mortgage offer can take a lot longer than expected. Lenders "service levels" and timescales can vary greatly. In some instances, a mortgage application won't even b...

Despite strong sales since the end of the lockdown period, the time taking for them to complete has increased. Post lockdown obtaining a mortgage offer can take a lot longer than expected. Lenders "service levels" and timescales can vary greatly. In some instances, a mortgage application won't even be looked at by the lender for twenty-seven working days. If the bank's underwriters decide that they need more information, this can add another one to two weeks before it is looked at again. Solicit...