James Pendleton: Clients are not being pressured into lowering prices agreed before the pandemic

Pendleton reported that those buyers looking to undercut agreed prices, due to economic change and shifting house prices, were not being entertained.

James Pendleton: Clients are not being pressured into lowering prices agreed before the pandemic

Following Nationwide’s news that house price growth had slowed slightly since last month, possibly heralding the start of the effects of COVID-19, independent estate agents James Pendleton has reported that clients do not seem to be panicking.

Lucy Pendleton, founder and director at James Pendleton, said: “Gazundering is back but it’s getting short shrift from vendors.

“That’s a sure sign that the strong growth that the Nationwide reports was building before the pandemic struck could find its feet again over the summer.

“This market may be running on fumes right now, but the vast majority of the clients we are speaking to aren’t being panicked into lowering their prices on sales agreed before the pandemic took hold.”

Pendleton reported that those buyers looking to undercut agreed prices, due to economic change and shifting house prices, were not being entertained.

She said: “Any attempts at gazundering have been met with polite invitations to just walk away.

“If dealt with correctly, some of these buyers will come back to the table with their original offers once the dust settles and the lockdown is out of the way.

“The market is coiling itself up like a spring just like it did during the Brexit years.

“This latest growth figure, though it has to be taken with a big pinch of salt, was the result of all that pent up energy being released.

“This time we’ll be expecting just as big a post-lockdown leap in activity to make up for all the lost time.”