A REAL estate expert opened his own business during lockdown after spending a year getting everything ready.

John Saunders is the co-director of Boundary Property Management in Purton, which opened just over a month ago and aims to encourage more people to learn more about the state of the borough’s housing market.

Videos made by the company and shared on social media with the help of a data company revealed the busiest and quietest streets in Swindon in terms of house sales.

The Tadpole Garden Village was top of the list due to its large amount of new builds, while Bruce Street came in second because the road has several small homes on it which are up for sale.

Elsewhere in the borough, Royal Wootton Bassett's High Street is proving popular for property sales.

Mr Saunders said: “These reports pull back the curtain a bit and give people information they are not normally privy to, and it helps us when valuing properties.

“The crisis has made getting a mortgage slightly harder but the stamp duty rise has helped people save a fortune. The average cost of a Swindon home is £252,000, which would have required £12,000 in stamp duty before the government raised the threshold.

“I think house prices will rise when the New Eastern Villages homes start being built but they will be a good thing for the area.

“The government has under-invested in house-building for quite a long time so there is a demand for new homes.

“I expect we will see the many Victorian terraced houses in Swindon become the first homes for buyers while the new-build properties’ prices will rise.

“We are trying to generate interest in the property market and convince landlords to come to us for their letting needs.”

Mr Saunders decided to focus on being a lettings-only agent after working in the housing industry for 10 years.

He added: “My co-director and wanted to become independent and work for ourselves. There was a gap in the market we felt we could fill.

“You have big names like Richard James that do everything- selling, buying and letting - but there was not much scope for a lettings-only agent who manages the property and properly from start to finish, from finding a tenant through to them leaving.”