Savills’ reports busiest Q1 on record for development sales

Savills residential development sales teams across the country have experienced their busiest Q1 on record, with more properties reserved in the first three months of this year than in any other quarter.

The regional teams also saw their busiest ever month, with more sales agreed in March than in previous years.

Savills head of residential development sales, George Cardale said: “Our successes this year are due in part to the strong buyer demand, with visits to the new homes pages of our website doubling year on year.  We saw brochure downloads up by over 40% which resulted in an 73% increase in website enquiries.’

“The national lockdown has given people the time to think about what they really want from their homes and the number of new applicants has increased 30% year on year, with our teams in Chelmsford, Birmingham, Manchester, Cambridge, Bishop’s Stortford and Ipswich registering 50% more new buyers than in any previous Q1.”

Savills residential development sales teams have also seen the number of first time buyers increase. First time buyers now represent the highest proportion of all new build sales in the regions.

The national lockdown has also bought about other changes – working from home and flexible working hours has meant people are less tied to a location because of job. This additional flexibility has meant regional centres have seen an increase in buyers coming out of London with the East of England being a main beneficiary, seeing an increase of 58% buyers from the capital.

The biggest tool in identifying buyers has been the Savills website which generated a third of Savills viewings and sales. George Cardale said: “Our own website gives us more enquiries and sales than any of the other portals. This puts us in a unique position when marketing new developments.”

However, there is a shortage of new build product in the marketplace. Cardale said: “New starts fell by 25% last year, which will result in short term price rises. If prices rise beyond affordability levels, rates of sale will slow and the market will be constrained. What is desperately needed is more open market supply. We are seeing a real opportunity now to launch new schemes off plan and take advantage of the busier market conditions.”