With estate agents re-opening their doors for business on June 15, estate agents have been buoyed by the positive return to business and have seen an interesting trend emerging.

Niall Smyth of Smyth Leslie & Co. and Nick Finlay from Montgomery and Finlay & Co. have spoken of interest from people who are looking to return to live in Fermanagh and now have the opportunity due to new working arrangements which have come about since the Covid-19 lockdown.

“Interestingly we have agreed the sale a number of properties in the last week to people working in England/Belfast/Dublin who are now returning home,” explained Nick.

“Their work now enables them to work from home and that flexibility has opened the door to returning to Fermanagh, which is a fantastic sign for our local community. I think this may be an increasingly common trend as more people work two or day days from home and are happy to commute for the remaining days, availing from the value for money in the property market and general lifestyle benefits, compared to the main cities.”

Niall echoed this sentiment, also receiving queries over the past number of weeks from people who have grown up in Fermanagh looking to return.

“Last week actually and even over the last couple of weeks we have had a few enquiries from people who are originally from here looking to move back because they now have the ability of working remotely and I suppose are able to do something the thought they were never able to do and raise their family in Fermanagh which is where they were raised themselves and work at home despite the fact that maybe the company is based in Belfast or somewhere like that.

“I think that’s something that is going to develop over the next six months where people are exploring it.

“I met different couples looking to do that, looking to move back and looking at a couple of properties we had as a sample to see will it work for them and I know they are favouring coming back and it is something as a community we should promote.One thing about the lockdown it has emphasised how strong community is here and I think its something we should use and broadcast a lot more.”

William McFarland of Eadie McFarland & Co. has also seen a busy return to business and believes there will be demand in the market over the coming months.

“After having been closed for around two and a half months its been a big catch up. We viewed it as if the pause button had been pressed on the market and now we are allowed to go so its been very busy since we’ve got back

“We sold six properties last week and that’s a good indication as to where the markets at. Despite all the concerns around Covid the market seems to be in a good place art the minute.”

The signs have also been encouraging for Seamus McGovern of McGovern Estate Agents who has seen plenty of interest in properties since re-opening.

“Since we’ve come back in we have been inundated with work. There are probably four or five properties going on the market this week and plenty of people to see them as well as a lot of people following up from before we were closed. “So far the signs have been very good and very encouraging.”

All agree that there is a demand for houses and it has built up over the period when estate agents were closed with Nick commenting: “There has been a pent-up demand during the lockdown and we are now seeing that come to fruition with the level of interest and new properties going online. We are remaining positive with our outlook on the market and honestly, we are as busy as ever.” And they all see house prices holding steady and hope accompanied by low interest rates business will continue to move in the right direction.