Moving forward in unprecedented times

We are living in unprecedented times, and this is apparent across the residential market particularly in 2020 and currently Q1 of 2021.

At the start of the pandemic in Q2 of 2020, we saw a massive reduction in registered applicants and first-time buyers. This decrease created much uncertainty amongst families and individuals looking to move home. During H2 of 2020, we saw a significant upturn in interest from applicants and a considerably more buoyant market with the introduction of new Government measures and pent up demand to move. These factors played a part in generating unprecedented sales results in the second half of 2020, in conjunction with the new homes expertise and full-service support offered by Countrywide.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak announced in July 2020 a Stamp Duty holiday until March 2021 allowing property purchases under £500,000 to be exempt from SDLT. There has been mounting pressure for this to be extended by six months with an online petition now reaching 125,000 signatures. Between weeks 26 and 29 of 2020, applicant activity increased by 40% and 29% across first time buyers and for the remainder of the year, Countrywide had 20% more applicants than in 2019.

The Countrywide new homes portfolio continues to grow at an impressive rate, with the team providing excellent national support to PLC’s, private and affordable housing. Despite extremely challenging times this year with COVID, the Countrywide new homes team have shown amazing resilience and demonstrated their industry expertise selling more than 3700 new homes per annum.

Registered applicant activity 2019, 2020 and 2021