Demand for property in Cumbria has soared during 2021, a leading estate agency says – with some homes selling for more than 45 per cent of their asking price.
Reporting over £111 million-worth of property traded during the last 12 months, H&H Land & Estates said there was a huge surge in demand with a shortage of supply.
Kate Patrick, head of estate agency, said: “Anything that is coming onto the market is selling quickly with demand very much outstripping supply.
“Even now as we come into the festive season, historically a quiet time of year, business is still extremely brisk.”
Throughout the year demand has been strong, certainly helped by the fact that until June, people could purchase a property up to the value of £500,000, reducing to £250,000 between July and September, without paying any stamp duty.
This led to a great rush to conclude sales before the two deadlines.
However, even after the end of September when stamp duty returned to normal levels, demand has continued to be high, the estate agency said.
“What we are finding now,” said Kate, “is that COVID seems to have inspired people to appreciate the necessity of space, both to work from home and green space in which to enjoy the outdoors.
“There is very little coming to market across the whole industry and so anything that does come up is hugely sought after.
“On average we would expect five or six viewers for each property, now we can expect around three times this amount.
“For example, we recently put a bungalow on the market for £225,000 and it had 40 viewings, both in person and virtually, and sold for 45 per cent over the asking price. Currently bungalows are particularly popular and are selling extremely well, as they are so few and far between.
“They are also in demand from those looking to downsize once their family have grown up and left the nest.”
Overall property prices have increased by more than 15 per cent and there are no signs of this changing in the short term, Kate added.
She said: “All of our offices, from Carlisle in the north to Kendal in the south have been the most spectacularly busy.
“Across all five of our estate agency branches, we have achieved an average of 99.7 per cent of asking price on properties sold since January 2021.”
