December Market Update

We are officially award-winning across the full range of our services.  At the EA Masters we were awarded Gold for Sales and Silver for Lettings and we feature in the Best Estate Agents Guide. Next was the Negotiator Awards, we won Gold for Best Property Management Department, Silver for Best Auction Service and Silver for Best Large Estate Agent in the Country! These are a combination of independent and peer judged awards.

We have also assisted Geoff and Lynne from Ryedales in Cramlington, who decided the time was right for retirement and we have been delighted to welcome their customers. It may surprise you to know that estate agents work together quite closely, making sure that chains move forwards etc.

As a family fun business we are keen to try to ‘give back’ to the North East Community and have a fund with the Community Foundation through which we have made grants of close to £50,000 over the last six years. In addition to supporting these charities financially we are hoping to help shine a spotlight on the fantastic work that they do and help to raise their profiles.

We recently visited ‘Cafe 16’ at Newcastle Cathedral which is part of the Oswin Project, a charity which supports ex offenders with employment. It was fantastic to meet some of the team who are so enthusiastic about the opportunity given to them (and the cakes baked at HMP Northumberland were some of the best I have tasted). 

In December I am delighted to say that all of our offices are acting as collection points for Cash for Kids and Mission Christmas, with the aim of helping to collect gifts for 41,000 children across the North East, if you are unable to drop a present off and wish to support the charity you can make a donation here.

And what about the property market? In November we sold nearly 30% more properties than we did last year! We had a record breaking month for properties sold via auction, with an increasing number of sellers choosing to sell via a secure route. We saw a reduction in the supply of rental properties and there continues to be high demand.

The property market continues to move throughout December, we have often sold properties right up until Christmas Eve and in ‘Betweenmas’ the days between Christmas and New Year.  If your home is up for sale with us we will keep on working every day to try to help get you moving,  if you are considering selling or renting your property please get in touch as we have buyers and tenants waiting. 

Best Wishes,

Caroline Pattinson

Managing Director