Hertfordshire village sees huge leap in agreed property sales

An upmarket Hertfordshire village has seen one of the biggest increases in agreed property sales in Britain this year.

Rightmove has named Welwyn in a list of 16 hotspots where sales agreed so far in 2020 have already exceeded those for the whole of 2019.

The property portal recorded an 11 per cent increase in sales in the village this year compared to all of 2019, and a 53 per cent lift when comparing the period between January 1 and September 6.

The biggest increases were seen in Fair Oak, Hampshire, and Formby, Merseyside, however.

More than half of the 16 places on Rightmove’s list are villages, reflecting the increased interest in rural life reported by many agents since lockdown.

Rightmove’s Mies Shipside said: “National statistics are drawn from hundreds of local markets, with villages and market towns peppered across the country benefitting most from the post-lockdown boom in activity and a shift in buyers seeking out more serene scenery. This is great news for sellers thinking of coming to market in these areas.”

Sales agreed nationally are currently down 6 per cent year-on-year compared to the same period in 2019, however.

Miles said: “The national sales agreed trend is an important and early indicator of future completed transactions and it’s encouraging to see that whilst it’s still playing catch up, it has been improving at pace over the past few months.”

This data follows the news that agreed property sales in the St Albans local authority area rose by 112 per cent year-on-year in the four weeks to August 16, one of the largest increases seen anywhere in the UK.