As the local property market moves into full swing

With prices “on the up” and looking set to rise further, over recent weeks , we have seen an increase in both numbers and urgency of buyers and – with many of them local home-owners – the supply of property for sale in the Exeter and surrounding area is slowly starting to increase. This recovery in property supply should help curb too steep price rises but it’s the increase in homeowners equity that’s seems to be encouraging many people’s confidence and ability to trade up, down or out of the market altogether. More property for sale is great news for buyers – who up until recently have been starved of fresh stock – and a healthy sign that the local property market is starting to gain momentum, after years of being held-back in numbers by a combination of variable consumer confidence and a lack of low-deposit mortgages.

At a national level, Rightmove are reporting a new national asking price record, driven they say, by a more fluid mortgage market and – we believe – a marked growing number of cash buyers looking to pile their money into property. Over the last six months or so we have certainly seen plenty of cash-rich investors with an appetite for one, two and three bedroom modern houses and flats and no shortage of demand from eager tenants looking to snap them up as we offer them to the rental market for both new and existing landlords . Now, following the recent Spring budget , we are taking enquiries on a daily basis from people who see “Bricks and Mortar” -and the rental returns and prospects for capital growth on offer – as a better home for their pension pot than poorly performing annuities. A sharp increase in buyer-demand in general, across the board, may in part be down to our own extensive and unique marketing but the underlying trend is also “on the up”.

Nobody wants to see prices racing away but the whole local economy will certainly benefit from more property being sold and more people on the move. In our own agency, we have agreed, exchanged or completed over £90 Million worth of residential property already this year and are recruiting in numbers, in both sales and lettings, to deal with this marked upturn in activity – which looks set to continue for some time to come.