Battens Solicitors says property market still buoyant

Battens Solicitors says property market in South West is still buoyant despite findings of national report which claims the market is slowing down.

Leading South West law firm Battens Solicitors says that the region’s property market is still buoyant despite the findings of a recent national report which claims that the booming property market is beginning to cool.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) monthly survey of members reports that in July there were signs that the recent frenetic activity in the property market was beginning to slow down as Stamp Duty Relief began to taper off.

Head of Residential Property at Battens, Sarah Ford refutes the report’s findings and says that enquiries for conveyancing are still flooding in:

“Battens are opening an unprecedented number of conveyancing files per month. The market has not cooled in Somerset and Dorset, in fact the opposite is true and that the market here is quite buoyant. We are still very busy, instructions are still coming in and it’s not just properties under the £250k price bracket hoping to make a saving before the end of the current SDLT holiday – it’s across the board.”

The report states that sales were slowing most notably in places such as Yorkshire & the Humber, the East Midlands and East Anglia.

Sarah Ford believes that although the property market in the South West is still busy, it is now providing a challenging environment for buyers in particular due to the lack of homes coming on to the market.

“Certainly, the lack of availability of housing was a pattern I saw emerging long before the pandemic, but now we are seeing an increase in the number of buyers from outside of the South West region. This is very much helping to fuel the market in Somerset and Dorset presently. I have many clients who have sold, but struggle when looking for somewhere to buy as houses come onto the market and are snapped up immediately for often over the asking price. We are all fortunate to live and work in such a beautiful part of the country and with working from home and hybrid working becoming the norm it has widened some buyers house search remit.”

For more information on buying, selling and transferring property contact Head of Residential Property Sarah Ford on 01929 500328 or email sarah.ford@battens.co.uk