Ripon estate agent wins gold award for the city 

Ripon-based estate agent, Davis & Lund, has won the British Property Award for Ripon.

The agency will now be shortlisted for a number of national awards set to be announced later this year.

This award focused on customer service levels which the British Property Awards judges found to be “outstanding” at Davis & Lund.

Paul Lund, director, said:

“I am delighted and exceptionally proud of my team for all their hard work helping us win this award. Not only are we market leading agents in Ripon, we have now been recognised with this award.”

Chris Davis, co-director added:

“We have also just found out this week that we have won that same award for our new branch in Thirsk, which just goes to show customer service is at the heart of everything we do.”

Chris Davis

Harrogate mobile app business targets growth after a difficult two years

Harrogate-based mobile app business, Mobile Tornado, has said that after an unpredictable two years is it is now focused on growth.

The listed company reported total revenue of £2.59m for the year ended 31 December 2021, up from £2.53m in 2020. Its pre-tax losses also reduced to £861,000 from £1.39m.

Jeremy Fenn, chairman of Mobile Tornado, said:

“It has been an extremely difficult two years for the business. The principal markets we operate in have been badly hit by the pandemic, dramatically constraining our business development activities.

“We have managed to maintain our revenue levels through this period, and executed significant improvements to our operational efficiency, such that we have reduced our operating expense from £3.16m in 2019 to £2.53m in 2021. This has allowed the business to trade through the period with modest losses, funded by a small working capital facility provided by our principal shareholder, and no further recourse to shareholders.”

Mr Fenn added that business had been “promising” in the first quarter of 2022.

Harrogate estate agents say a stamp-duty holiday could help revive a struggling housing market.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in his summer statement that the threshold for stamp duty will be raised from£125,000 per home to £500,000.

The measure will only be temporary and is intended to boost a flagging housing market that has been disrupted due to coronavirus.

Harrogate has been no exception and it is hoped the change in stamp duty could bring some confidence back to the market.

Read more:

• District estate agent reports a surge in home-buyer interest

• What will be the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the property market?

Estate agent Andrew Hill told the Stray Ferret that the stamp duty holiday will give the market in Harrogate a boost after several fallow months.

He said:

“I think it will be a positive step in the right direction and it might just help people buy a house. It’s money in the right place at the right time to kickstart the housing market. We’re looking forward to it.”

Even though the market shut down from March to May, Mr Hill said the early signs for the rest of the year are positive.

He added:

“The market has set off a lot stronger than we ever dreamt of.

A lot of pent up demand got satisfied as lockdown restrictions eased. The news about stamp duty will help again.

The market will slow down people will be a bit more nervous but there hasn’t been too many signs of that so far.”

Will Linley, chief executive of Linley & Simpson, said it was a major boost for the industry and one that should “turbo charge” the Yorkshire property market.

He said:

“Whilst we have seen the property market making a steady post-Covid recovery, today’s announcement by the Chancellor is very welcome news indeed.

“There was a fear that its introduction would be delayed, which would have immediately put the brakes house sales.

“The stamp duty holiday will make a huge difference for those purchasing properties up to £500,000 and will encourage some to look at flats and houses that were originally out of their price bracket.”

David Waddington, Land and New Homes Director for Linley and Simpson, writes for The Stray Ferret and says lockdown has had a surprising effect on the market: 

Who would have guessed? Never have estate agents and property advisers had it so good since the Brexit referendum in June, 2016.
An unlikely phenomenon you would think, with only a small proportion of the folk returning to work following the COVID-19 outbreak. A number of sources are reporting enquiry levels at a new high with multiple offers against individual properties, sales on homes that have been marketed for a number years, and new developments receiving unprecedented requests to view.

So, when all we hear about is economic Armageddon, what’s going on?

I think the pent up demand is fuelled by a couple of factors:
Firstly, being cooped up in one’s home for 8 weeks is a sure way to test any relationship, an opportunity to buy bigger, downsize, or at least a change of environment to preserve sanity.
Secondly, whilst many have struggled financially, others have remarkably saved money and with the cost of borrowing being so low, the time seems right for aspiring buyers.

Economically the country is faced with a number of challenges, how do they pay for the furloughing of over 6 Million people? This is heightened by a surge in borrowing in the UK by £62.5bn in April, but putting this into context, the war debt was only concluded within the last ten years, so what’s the rush to pay it back?  Income tax however is likely to increase, but whilst we are all so indebted to the NHS, the metaphorical pill should be easy to swallow.

Worrying times we know, but such headline grabbing snap-shots need to be balanced against low inflation and still very cheap mortgage borrowing, assuming that your loan to value is on the right side of 75%.

Estate agents though are having to calm the storm by ensuring that social distancing requirements are observed.
Within the new homes sector, open days with hoards of people are now a thing of the past but properly managed, social distancing arrangements can be arranged for buyers. A recent campaign for a new apartment scheme in Harrogate has resulted in twenty back to back appointments over a two day period, giving each party a private dedicated slot of half an hour to inspect without the need for a shiny suited estate agent asking irrelevant questions. Following each viewing, the property is cleansed, with door handled wiped within a 15 minute window, to allow for the next party to view.

One social distance advantage though….the removal of the luke warm Prosecco and vol-au-vents.

Here in the Harrogate region, we have a strong sense of belonging to the finest area of God’s creation. It has inspired many to look to a new home, to enhance their home life, whilst being comforted by the familiarity of an area that is already enjoyed.