This market has absolutely blown me away this year. I was a little worried when the goverment announced at the back end of 2020 there would be another national lockdown and it was likely to last until March/April but thankfully the decision to keep the housing market open seems to have paid off...big time. Although we haven’t been able to open our office to the public we have been able to enter people’s homes to do valuations and conduct viewings obviously following strict covid guidelines. I must say both vendors and viewers have been fantastic and we have only had one breach when a family of six turned up for a viewing! Our agent promptly turned them away at the doorstep as it’s a maximum of two adults. 

So what’s the market like? Well put it this way in my 14 years in this game I’ve never known a market so busy. Don’t get me wrong, Keystone have put a lot of marketing strategies in place over the last couple of years which are now starting to pay off and have made us now one of the leading agents in the Flintshire area so we are busier anyway but at the time of writing (End of February) we have sold 38 houses so far this year. This is a huge uplift on this time last year pre-pandemic - we’d sold 21 by Feb 2020. So what’s driving all this? 

When we came out of the first lockdown it was a strange market due to England opening up far sooner (May 8th) than Wales (July 23rd) so we were severely restricted - the phone was going crazy by June as everyone thought things were back open but we couldn’t do anything! There then came a flood of houses and activity in the market and we were averaging around 14 house sales a month from July on. This was obviously pent up demand after the market was closed for so long. 

I believe this is something different. The “new norm” of working from home has created a huge need for more space especially for parents with young children. Either Mum or Dad or both need that quiet room to work from. Also people have been locked up in their houses and have realised they need a bigger garden or one of the kids needs a bigger bedroom. Also some  couples have spent too much time with each other and realised they don’t like each other anymore! So we’re seeing more split ups again leading to the house being sold. So all these factors are driving the market. The one slight problem at present is lack of stock at the top end of the market - the bigger houses everyone needs are being snapped up the moment they’re coming on the market. We’re seeing four bed detached houses rocket in price...at least a 8-10% rise in the last 12 months alone. Supply and demand...it’s simple really. 

If you’re looking to sell in 2021 especially if you’re looking to go up market then this is the time - right now. I’m predicting a rise in property prices this year. If you have, for example, a three bed semi and it’s worth £160k and you’re looking to buy at around £300k if the market rises generally by 10% over the next year, yes, you’ll get £16k more for yours but you’ll pay £30k more for the next one. 

Is all this due to the stamp duty holiday? Partly but if it’s all to do with stamp duty then why have we just had our best month ever selling over 20 houses? Anyone buying in February can’t seriously expect to avoid the stamp duty deadline in wales of 31st March. We would be hard pushed even if a house went under offer on Feb 1st to get it to completion by March 31st due to searches etc taking so long. I think it’s more to do with the reasons I’ve already outlined which are likely to continue throughout the year. 

Taking into consideration this whole area is mainly manufacturing based industry I think we’ll come out of this pandemic ok. Most people will have retained their jobs and this is why I’m confident the market will remain strong. 

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