Homeowners research and agents go virtual during market pause

As we enter an extended period of lockdown, our property expert Miles Shipside reveals how it’s affected the housing market so far, and what needs to happen to help a recovery.

Given the effective pausing of key activities in the market, data on things like the numbers of properties coming up for sale, for example, aren’t particularly helpful at the moment.

So it’s important to focus on what’s happening right now, plus the steps that need to be taken to help the housing market recover once the lockdown can safely be eased.

We’ve seen that available stock for sale is down only marginally, by 2.6%, since the lockdown began, so most sellers seem determined to continue with their moving plans.

We also know that many homeowners are researching their plans for the future, using Rightmove’s sold prices section.

Agents are continuing to help serious buyers and sellers by using tools such as online videos, until physical viewings are once again possible.

Here, we asked Miles to answer some of the most common questions we’ve seen from Rightmove users.

What will it take to kick-start the market again?

The price of property coming to market was at an all-time high as we went into lockdown, fuelled by buyer demand outstripping supply, high levels of employment, and mortgage lenders competing to lend.

The unprecedented government support for people and businesses will need to continue once the lockdown is eased, in order to facilitate a quick recovery on many fronts.

What initiatives would help the market to recover?

Owners need to be encouraged to move by reducing the costs of moving, and prospective buyers encouraged to buy by reducing the costs of funding their purchase.

READ MORE: Selling your home? Read our Q&A here

Recovery could be boosted by government incentives targeted at home movers such as stamp duty holidays, extension of Help to Buy, and perhaps also encouragement of mortgage lending.

What’s happening in the market right now?

Agents report that there is good co-operation, with both buyers and sellers keen to hold deals together.

While some buyers may express concern over the possibility of short-term dips in house prices, many are taking the longer-term view and living up to their commitments to proceed.

This is being helped by mortgage lenders extending the life of existing mortgage offers by three months, and new legal rules on flexible completion dates.

When do you think the market will get back to some level of normality?

We think it will take several months or more for the market to find its feet in this new unsteady world.

Once the lockdown ends, agents will have to follow safe viewing precautions to give sellers the confidence to again allow viewers into their own homes, and buyers the confidence that they can safely visit homes that are for sale.

READ MORE: What should I do if I’m halfway through a renovation project?

During this slow-motion period we do not expect significant price falls, as home sellers will not be prepared to cut their prices while it is still not clear how the general public, businesses, financial markets, and the government are going to handle the transition to whatever turns out to be the new normal.

What activity has Rightmove been seeing during lockdown?

Visits to Rightmove fell by around 40% at the time of the lockdown announcement, when property was understandably not at the front of people’s minds, but has now started to recover slowly across the last week.

While demand has naturally been much lower than earlier in the year, current behaviour on site shows many homeowners researching their plans for the future.

Rightmove’s recently relaunched sold prices section has recovered more quickly since the lockdown, with page views now running just 20% lower than usual levels.

To read April’s House Price Index in full, click here.