Estate agents unconcerned by quiet April for housing market
APRIL was a quiet month for the housing market with just 93 conveyances taking place, compared to 141 in the same month last year.
In one normal Tuesday court session, only one bond and not a single conveyance was dealt with.
Local estate agents were not worried about the low number of transactions.
‘April was quieter, especially over the holiday period.
‘It’s hard to compare it back to last year because [then] it was the boom coming out of Covid.
‘There is still decent activity. Now the holidays are over, we are very busy with bookings over the next week,’ said Swoffers director Andre Austin.
Ben McVey, local market negotiator at Cooper Brouard, agreed.
‘April was quiet, but this was impacted with the half-term holidays and a little uncertainty over interest rates,’ he said.
‘We have been quite spoilt over the last few years and we are now back to pre-Covid levels in terms of activity.’
The quiet April was followed by a busy first week in May, when there were 45 conveyances.
Mr McVey said that could be explained by people delaying completion of purchases until May to move just before the Coronation and Liberation long weekend.
‘People could have waited to take advantage of the four-day weekend,’ he said.
Despite the quiet month, there were still nine properties sold in excess of £1m.
The most expensive was Havelet Court which, along with an associated coach house, sold for £6,483,750.
The open market five-bedroom house above Havelet Bay in St Peter Port enjoys views over Castle Cornet and the islands beyond and offers 8,000 square feet of accommodation.
