Easing restrictions drive record gains in new moving enquiries
Vendor, Landlord, Buyer and Tenant enquiries surge as people rush to get moving
19 MAY, 2020. Demand for estate agency services exploded in the past week to smash all records as people desperate to move rushed to take advantage of the official easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions and the government green light for estate agents and removal firms to reopen, the latest data from the Yomdel Property Sentiment Tracker (YPST) shows.
For the week ending midnight 17 May, landlords and vendors sensing it may now be possible to value and list their properties drove the gains. Enquiry levels from vendors, landlords, buyers and tenants are now all significantly above pre-covid-19 average levels, Yomdel, the leading provider of live chat for estate agents said.
Yomdel provides 24/7 managed live chat services to 3,800 estate agent offices in the UK, handling more than a million chats per year. It has analysed the data going back to January 2019, up until week ending 17 May 2020.
“In six years of Yomdel we’ve never seen anything like this, demand just went off the scale and all records were smashed to smithereens. People have been indicating for the past few weeks they need to get moving and now with the lockdown easing they’ve been given a glimmer of light and it sparked a stampede,” said Andy Soloman, Yomdel founder and CEO.
“This is not only Yomdel seeing this trend, but agents themselves report phones ringing red-hot, and many agents are now struggling to safely open offices, unfurlough staff and find ways to meet this demand. It’s nuts,” he added.
YOMDEL PROPERTY SENTIMENT TRACKER (w/e 17th May 2020)
The YPST methodology establishes a base line average shown as 100% or 100, calculated according to average engagement values over the 62 weeks prior to the lockdown, and plots movements from there according to the volumes of people engaging in live chat, their stated needs, questions asked, and new business leads generated. Data is measured over full 24-hour periods.
New vendor enquiries surged 67.13% or 55.89 points to 139.15, smashing through the pre-covid-19 average and ending the week just a few points off the New Year “Boris Bounce” high of 148.97 hit on 12 January.
Buyers kept pace with vendors, soaring an incredible 80.93 points, or 63.24%, to 208.90, a new all-time record to mark demand of more than twice the pre-covid-19 average.
Landlords weren’t ready to be left behind either, and they gained 38.98 points, or 41.9%, to finish at 132.11, strongly above the pre-covid-19 average.
And tenants were still not to be outdone. Already the poster stars of lockdown demand, they finished the week up another 55.13 points, or 28.27%, up to finish at 250.11. This puts tenant demand at 150% of the pre-covid-19 average.
“With economic activity grinding to a halt under lockdown, it has been clear for several weeks now that people were simply sharpening their running spikes ready for when they could get moving,” said Soloman.
“Equally fascinating is the data also reveals substantial shifts in consumer behaviour. We’ve seen almost three times as many people choosing to use live chat than ever before, and we believe this trend is set to continue meaning agent websites are more critical than at any time in the past,” he added.
Source: Yomdel
