Fridays overtake Saturdays for property viewings in London
Claim is made by Liza-Jane Kelly of Savills who says societal shifts caused by Covid mean many people now work from home Fridays and can bunk off for a few hours to view a property.
The rise of ‘flexible working’ during Covid changed many things about the property industry, but one unexpected shift is that Fridays are now more popular for viewings among potential buyers than Saturdays, says Savills.
It says this is only true for London, but that areas outside the capital are following suit, albeit more slowly. But what the Savills research doesn’t say is that because a very large number of people now work at home on Fridays particularly in London, they can ‘bunk off’ to complete a property viewing in their local area more easily.
Across the agency’s London residential offices, 21% of sales viewings took place on a Friday during the first five months of the year, up from the 18% seen before the pandemic (Jan-May 2019). This comes as the proportion of Saturday viewings – traditionally the busiest day for agents – fell from 21% to 15% during the same period.
Domestic
Within the capital, residential offices which have seen the greatest uptick in Friday viewings compared to the pre-pandemic period are largely domestic areas across prime London including Victoria Park, Hackney, Putney and Wandsworth.
“The pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on the increase in Friday viewings, particularly as more people are working from home during the week, often on a Friday.
“Attending a viewing within an hour is very do-able in London and people are making the most of being able to see a home between calls or meetings, freeing up their weekend for family time,” says Liza-Jane Kelly, head of London residential at Savills (main image).
Saturday
Meanwhile in the regions, Saturday remains the busiest day for sales viewings, despite falling from 29% to 26% since before the pandemic. Fridays accounted for 19% of the week’s sales viewings in the first five months of the year, higher than the 16% seen pre-pandemic (Jan-May 2019).
“More widely, it’s clear that societal shifts are also at play and new types of roles, industries and flexible working mean that people aren’t as fixed to attending outside of traditional working hours,” says Kelly.
Read more: Can estate agents ever get their weekend back?
“Bunking off” while they are meant to be working? AKA “swinging the lead” or “shirking” or “taking your foot off the throttle” or “taking the …. mick”. So not actually “working” then.