Shrewsbury’s flagging housing market has been given a boost with estate agents claiming house sales are up 600 per cent on last year.
Agents say they are arranging more viewings, and a number of homes earmarked for affordable housing will now return to the open market as developers’ confidence grows.
Figures from town agents Miller Evans show the number of houses sold has risen from around five or six to more than 30 a month. People wanting to view properties is up from 10-15 viewings per weekend in November and December to around 120 already this month.
Meanwhile, officials at Barratt Homes, which is building up to 130 houses on Ellesmere Grange, off Ellesmere Road, now plan to sell 18 homes on the open market which had initially been allocated for social housing. The company had been in negotiation with Wrekin Housing Trust and Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council to sell the properties.
David Miller, partner at Miller Evans, said confidence in the housing market was definitely returning. “In the last two or three months of 2008 we made few sales – about five or six a month – but in January we sold 20 houses, then in February it was 30 and so far this month we are already in the mid-30s,” he said.
“There’s a lot of interest and properties are selling. It would be fair to say we are cautiously optimistic.”
Tim Pook, managing partner at Cooper Green estate agents, said: “Viewings have increased significantly since the new year and that is converting to new sales but it is still a difficult market.
“There seems to be a lot of pent-up demand for houses. Compared to the end of last year, sales have at least doubled.”
Richard Lawrence, SABC’s growth point manager, was handling negotiations with Barratts about freeing up empty homes which were not selling.
“It appears the open market is picking up in Shrewsbury so the developers think they can sell the houses,” he said.
“This is a good sign as it is the only large scale development in Shrewsbury at the moment. Barratts have told us they feel confident they can sell them. If Barratts say they don’t need our help because the market is improving and confidence is growing, that is good news.”
A spokesperson for Barratts said they were delighted with the success of the site and had decided to put the houses back on the open market.