Sheffield Conveyancing Team Reports Increase In Enquiries

As New Homes Week gets underway today in the UK, law firm Irwin Mitchell's Sheffield office has revealed a significant rise in the number of enquiries it has seen from people looking to buy and sell houses.

Lisa Shenton, Partner and head of Conveyancing at Irwin Mitchell, said: "We are seeing more people looking to buy and sell their homes showing that confidence in the housing market is improving. In fact enquiries this month have been 20 per cent higher than the same period in 2008."

News of a resurgent housing market echoes recent national statistics from the Halifax house price index for August which indicated a second successive monthly increase in prices (0.8 per cent), putting them back up to a similar level to the start of the year.

New Homes Week 2009 takes place from 12th to 20th September and is a consumer focused week-long campaign promoting the benefits of new homes such as improved energy efficiency and security.

Shenton said: "As prices have generally fallen over the past couple of years houses are certainly more affordable. New builds are becoming more and more attractive because of Government benefit schemes as well as many builders offering deals and incentives, with the added benefit of a potentially shorter chain of buyers.

"Irwin Mitchell would like to help people in the region by offering, as part of New Homes Week, a 15% fee discount on our legal fee for clients who instruct us to deal with the purchase of their new build home by the end of September 2009. Clients will benefit from an experienced New Homes team who will pro-actively manage their case through to completion."