The world of selling houses is one that is absolutely fascinating to those outside of the industry. The way estate agents tour potential house buyers around open houses and developments, and sell them not only a home, but a lifestyle. The way that with words and sales techniques, agents can encapsulate a whole life into a property is amazing.
With tens of thousands of houses being sold in the UK on a monthly basis, from studio flats to large residential homes, there’s no shortage of a desire to buy a home in the UK. Whether upsizing, downsizing or becoming first-time homeowners, people are ready and raring to move into a home they can call their forever, or permanent-for-now, home. Even though house prices are currently at the highest prices they’ve ever been, the market doesn’t seem to be slowing down and demand isn’t stopping. If anything, demand for housing is higher than ever, and people are the keenest they have been to buy property.
After the pandemic the country went through what one could only refer to as a house buying boom. According to UK Finance’s Household Finance Review of Q1 2021, trends showed that while all sectors of homebuying had seen a significant boost, the most striking trend was the trend in home mover activity. This hugely accelerated over the first quarter of 2021, the data for March 2021 showed that there were 142% more completed loans for home mover purchases than the year previous, just before the country went into lockdown.
New builds are popping up around the country. These new builds take a while to build, but often when passing by one of these new, not yet built developments, why is it that there’s signs saying all homes on the development have been sold, or nearly all sold, before the development has been completed?
How do real estate agents sell homes that don’t yet exist? Not imaginary houses, of course, but off-plan homes. Where do estate agents even start with trying to sell homes that are currently just a pile of bricks, glass and mortar that hasn’t yet been mixed.
Securing off-plan sales is fundamental to the health and profitability of the majority of new developments. By selling some homes before they are even built, developers can reduce the sales period of the development and generate an income before the scheme is complete, often using the money to fund ongoing works and repay loans. So not only is it good for customers who want to get their foot in the door, but also for the developer looking to make money during the costly construction process.
Popularity
A helping hand in the selling of off-plan properties is the climate we live in. We are living in a time of high housing demand. The UK’s housing shortage is one of the biggest challenges the country is currently facing. It was only a few years ago that the Government had implemented their goal to build 300,000 new homes every year to match the high and ever-increasing demand, as well as to make sure that house prices remained at a steady rate and didn’t become too unaffordable. Although, since this goal was announced a few years ago, the Government have failed to meet this target. In the 2019-20 financial year, 243,770 new homes were delivered in England, according to Government figures, which is the highest number of homes built in the UK in a year since 1987. The lack of new houses being built is causing a strain on the entire housing market. The demand for new housing outweighs the number of homes available on the market by a significant margin, meaning the price of homes is drastically increasing due to the desperation of homebuyers.
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