New sales boom – and increased demand from homeworkers

As the Highlands’ biggest housebuilder, we are delighted to see a lockdown bounceback with July sales up by 25 per cent on last year – with a noticeable increase in queries from buyers who want to continue working from home.

COVID-19 has dampened the celebrations for our 95th anniversary however, our chief executive, George Fraser, has forecast that brisk sales are poised to continue.

“There is clearly pent-up demand and we’re extremely pleased with being 25 per cent up on July 2019, which is normally a quieter sales period due to people being on holiday”, he revealed.

All of our sites and sales offices have now reopened with most of our team returning from furlough. Our team members have received full training with our updated safety systems and protocols which are in place. We’re grateful to our subcontractors and supply chain for complying with our antivirus regime.

As we offer a choice of family homes it was important for us to ensure families could move into their new homes as soon as possible. Our top priority when reopening was to complete homes which were unfinished when lockdown arrived, all of these have now been completed.

Throughout the lockdown, we continued registering sales, and this past month has seen deals rapidly settled. Our Fife development at Balgeddie Park, Glenrothes, is now approaching a total sellout and our communities across Inverness are generating significant interest, including from a volume of prospective purchasers living outside the area.

With so many people required to work from home recently, it is clear that the ability to have a home office is a key influence on some home buyers. We have received enquiries from people looking to turn bedroom space into their workspace as they see themselves homeworking on a longer-term or semi-permanent basis. We understand that connectivity is extremely important in these times and facilitating this will be factored into our home designs in the future.

As the demand for new build homes continues, we continue to see a great amount of interest in one of our most sought after communities, The Maples at Ness Side which offers you city living with the countryside on your doorstep.

Going forward, we recently secured planning approval for a new development at Kirkhill, several miles outside Inverness and last month we gained joint consent with Persimmon Homes for a £100 million 800-unit development at Brucefields, Stirling.

With 95 years’ experience and 95% customer recommended feedback, we are proud of our Highland heritage, delivering a great choice of high-quality new homes in the best locations in Scotland.