Back in April, in the midst of lockdown, we surveyed our prospective buyers and sellers to get a better understanding of how the experience of Covid-19 had affected their desire to move and what they valued in a home.

At the time we were surprised at the level of resolve they showed to move given the economic backdrop. And while it was entirely understandable for buyers to increasingly focus on country property, we wondered whether this was a knee-jerk reaction to prevailing circumstances or the start of something more meaningful.

Encouragingly, in the period since the market reopened in England, robust levels of activity have backed up the findings of this initial survey. However, as life slowly gets back to something closer to normal, we wanted to understand whether opinions had changed. We were also keen to explore our clients' experience of the market to give us more clues as to what may happen next.

Our video below looks at the findings of our second survey of over 500 respondents telling us that:

• The experience of Covid-19 had caused almost three quarters to reconsider their work-life balance
  
  
• This has made them become even more committed to moving, not just in the next 12 months but also in the shorter term
  
  
• There is less stock on the market than they expected and more competition among buyers
  
  
• The stock that is available is priced more highly than they had anticipated
  
  
• But a surprisingly high proportion will take a short-term view on future values if buying today
  
  
• Where they are unable to secure a property in the next six months, renting is a viable option for around half of prospective buyers in the current market

Taken together this suggests the market will remain active in the coming months but that buyers will remain discerning in terms of both what they will buy and how much they will spend, in what we expect to remain a relatively price-sensitive market.

Further information

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