A recent survey by online property portal Rightmove suggests that demand for UK city-centre apartments is on the rise with the Covid pandemic seemingly under control.
Interest in apartments in general has risen by 39 per cent since January, with properties within city centres in general showing a 32 per cent jump in buyer enquiries over the same period.
Buoyancy of the market
The survey also suggests that the boom in the property market has continued through the period of the Covid crisis, with demand for flats 51 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic level.
The buoyancy of the market has been helped by Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to extend the stamp duty holiday and by the mortgage guarantee scheme introduced in his March budget.
The survey also suggests that there has been growing interest amongst first-time buyers. This has helped to push the market along, as first-time buyers are obviously not involved in a property chain.
When buyers have found a property in the capital, regardless of where they are moving from, a conveyancing solicitor London is an integral part of the buying process.
It is important to get your conveyancer in place as soon as possible. An online search for ‘conveyancing solicitor London‘ will produce lots of options.
Just before the Rightmove data became available, the Office for National Statistics announced that there had been a 10 per cent annual hike in house prices up to March 2021. This represented the largest increase in almost 14 years. Although the price of flats only went up by 5 per cent, detached houses saw an 11.7 per cent increase in their value.
As life returns to normal, these trends, which have surprised many, are likely to continue.
Commercial property in the capital
At the same time as the residential market is experiencing a boom, data reveals that there is renewed interest in commercial property in the capital. This suggests a growing appetite to return to the office after 12 months of working from home for many people.
A report from DeVono Cresa, a commercial property advisory firm, said that it had seen a 27 per cent increase in letting of office space in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the last quarter of the previous year; what’s more, the average amount of space leased was slightly up year on year.
There continues to be a rise in availability – around 8 per cent up during the last quarter – with some 20 million square feet currently on the market.
The majority of the increase related to areas in which growth was slow last year, including the East Fringe, Docklands and the South Bank.