SITTING in a first-floor office above the hustle and bustle of the city centre street below, Nick Kay and Oliver Newby look comfortable in their surroundings, at ease with their working world.

The two are partners in Stephensons and very much part of the public face of the successful estate agency.

But, interestingly, neither imagined themselves in this position. For they both, as young men, dreamed of sporting careers, Nick as a cricketer, Oliver as a footballer.

“Cricket was all I ever thought about when I was at school, I was absolutely certain I was going to be a professional cricketer,” Nick says before adding with a laugh, “that was until I realised I wasn’t going to be quite good enough.”

Maybe not as a pro but he was, however, skilled enough to have a good amateur career – he has played for York Cricket Club with distinction for many years. “And this year I am club captain,” he says. “I’m pleased about that because it’s probably the only way I can still get my game.”

Oliver’s story is similar. “I was sure I was going to be a footballer,” he says. “Until I realised how many better players there were out there.”

Again, while he did not make the professional ranks he has been – and still is – a very decent amateur and today turns out for the highly-regarded Dunnington side.

For a moment, with all this talk of sporting ambition, you can almost see the two men in wry reflection of what might have been.

But then it is back to the business of the real world… Nick reveals how after completing a degree in politics at Newcastle University he was persuaded to consider the estate agency business by an old family friend Ian Reynolds – something of a legend in estate agency circles – and a man who was at the time transforming Stephensons into a leading independent player in the property market.

(The company has claims to being the oldest independent estate agency in North Yorkshire, having been founded in 1871.) For his part, Oliver, who is looking to complete his own Chartered Surveying degree shortly, freely admits to having always been more interested in the sales side of the property business. “During my early training I spent more time with the girls in the sales office than on site,” he recalls with a smile.

He was given his break in estate agency by Ben Hudson at Hudson Moody before moving to Stephensons, going on to set up and launch their Town and City residential arm, specialising in the sale of small detached, semi-detached, town houses and apartments in York and Selby.

It was a great move, he says. “Growing up in villages around York you would always see the Stephensons boards, they were an established and prestigious company and I immediately felt at home.”

That was in no small part, he adds, down to the team spirit at the company, its in-house training – and the depth of knowledge across the whole estate agency field.

“I knew that whatever the problem there would be people here that would have the answers, people who have been there, done that and got the t-shirt. That’s still the case today, you get a lot of support in everything you do.”

That was also Nick’s experience. Arriving some 12 years ago and “trained brilliantly by Ian”, the company sent him to do an MSc post graduate diploma at Sheffield Hallam University to help him qualify as a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

The partners – four in total, the others are James and Edward Stephenson – are now keen to ensure that similar support is given to their own 32 staff members spread across Stephensons’ Yorkshire operation with offices including those at York, Easingwold, Selby, Malton, Helmsley, Pickering, Kirkbymoorside, Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

Perhaps because of what the staff can offer in return.

“We have an excellent team with a wide range of specialist knowledge and skills,” Nick says. “It is all a good fit, it means that we can accommodate and cater for any type of property and any type of client.”

That relationship has been tested in recent years as the housing market crash led to Stephensons, like all estate agents, having to tighten their operations as house sales fell to record lows.

Although they juggled jobs between branches, some office closures and redundancies were inevitable.

“It was a very difficult time,” Nick says, “and the worst part of it was the human element. That had the most effect during difficult times.”

Stephensons, he adds, were in a more fortunate position than some. Because of the nature of their business – with a spread of departments including agricultural and land consultancy, commercial property and lettings – they were not overly reliant on the residential sector.

“In fact our lettings sector did very well during that time,” Nick says.

Today the market is very much back on track – with rocketing demand for all kinds of property.

“The market is exceptionally good right now,” Oliver says. “There is a huge demand from buyers. If you put any unusual home on the market you will have 20 to 30 people going after it.”

And not just exceptional homes. Oliver relates the recent story of a modest three-bed semi which Stephensons thought they had sold, only for the deal to break down.

“Within two hours of it going back on to Right Move we had five people wanting to view – one of those a lady who was 300 miles away in Bournemouth and was going to travel all the way up for a viewing.”

New homes, in particular, are very much in demand and houses are being snapped up before building has even begun.

One example Nick relates is that of the Daniel Gath development at Chapel Court, Easingwold, where five of the eight houses were bought “off plan” before the foundations had even been laid.

That boom has, however, brought its own difficulties – chief among them the fact that there are simply not enough properties coming on to the market to meet soaring demand.

And, in cities like York, in particular, that has led to rising prices throughout the residential sector and sometimes unrealistic expectations on the part of those looking to sell.

For those who are lucky enough to find a property in this competitive market, however, there are advantages to the present situation.

Oliver says: “With all of the low cost mortgages available at the moment conditions are probably as good as anyone can expect them to be in their lifetimes to buy property.”

If only there were enough property available to give people that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… My final question is to ask whether are we building enough new homes to cater for this huge demand.

“No,” Nick says simply and bluntly. “Not nearly enough. We urgently need proposed sites – and new sites – being released for building to cater for the needs of people in York and Yorkshire.”