Date Published 30 August 2018
I guess for those of us that have the summer of 1976 etched in our memory, the summer of 2018 will be similarly remembered. The days are long, the gardens are parched and scorched to the point of dust and you can actually plan outdoor activities with some degree of certainty and not be glued to the Met Office website. But what about the housing market in this area at present? Well, it is fair to say that the World Cup year, the very hot weather and the school holidays have combined to slow the market for a few weeks. The question now is how the autumn housing market is likely to shape up.
With another small increase in the Bank of England base rate (now 0.75%), confidence is perhaps not as high as it has been. Couple this with the continued fog that hangs over Brexit negotiations then it is understandable that the current pool of buyers is considerably smaller compared to previous years.
I use the analogy that we are rather like sheep in this country; if one person sucks air in through their teeth and says 'I'm not moving for now' then more often than not we prefer to take their lead and stay put, waiting for something to happen that means it's now ‘safe' to move. Is there really ever a good time to buy and sell?
With the present market as it is, as agents we also find ourselves advising sellers to be bold and to market their property first and try and secure a buyer and then look for a property second. The other way round can cause stress, frustration and heartache, particularly when they have spent so much time and energy finding a property, all the time thinking they can sell their own house at the click of their fingers. If only it were that easy.
One upside to the current market – of which there are several – is that the sellers that are on the market at present are serious. There is no messing about in this market; it is too expensive to move just for the fun of it. Most sellers are keen to negotiate and are willing to do a deal and this has to be good news. OK, so none of us no what's round the corner – as John Lennon famously said, 'Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans,' – but if you are planning to put down roots for say a 5-10 + year period, the market is generally pretty much cyclical and prices tend to go up and not down. Do you want to wait for the gap to grow? If you were selling and downsizing then, yes, but if you're hoping to go up the ladder I would suggest no and therefore perhaps there have been worse times to consider buying.
Our advice is to plan ahead and do all boring, but ultimately necessary financial and budgeting leg-work now. There are some excellent mortgage advisers in this area and we are always very happy to recommend one.
