What a year in property sales!

2021 has presented some excellent offerings to the market, with strength in the agricultural and investment markets along with a shift in residential buyers moving to more rural locations, we have seen some phenomenal property transactions, both in volume and value.

We started 2021 with a bang, offering a 60 + acres Golf Course to the market, followed swiftly by a “best and final offers” process, to sale agreed followed by exchange and completion.  This set the tone for the year, with many properties throughout the rural and residential sector achieving asking price or above.  The various lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021, gave purchasers a “now or never” attitude towards buying which has created unprecedented interest in properties, high volumes of buyers and great competition.
The sale of farms and agricultural land remained strong over the course of the year, with a variety of buyer profiles including those looking to continue to farm, those looking to use the farmsteads/land for leisure or as an investment.
Where it has had value to our clients, we have run a number of successful private marketing campaigns and generated some excellent sales where both the vendor and buyer have been pleased with the outcome.  At some levels in the market, privacy is the priority, and this is something we have really worked with this year.  It is so important to take time to understand what vendors and buyers are looking for, to enable such transactions.

The number of properties sold by Armitstead Barnett has increased by almost 40% on last year and 50% on the year before, showing good growth in the market and AB!

Over the last 12 months we have made alterations to the selling process, to include the use of property information questionnaires which are given to buyers before they offer, assisting in the transparency of all sales and reducing our fall throughs.  They have also assisted many solicitors in flagging any issues that might arise early.  We continue to strive for excellence in all things; the process, marketing and meeting our clients’ objectives.

Entering the year ahead, we have a book full of buyers ready to move across the property types that we handle, this coupled with the lowest interest rates we have ever seen, and significant buyer momentum should see strong levels of interest continue into 2022.  With demand likely to continue in the short term, we hope to see more properties come to the market in the new year creating a positive 2022 for the rural property sector.