Date Published 10 October 2022
What is the first question we are always asked as local Marlborough agents?
"How's the market?" is probably the first one and at the moment it is often followed with, aren't prices dropping?, or, when will they start to fall?
The Autumn market locally has certainly been affected by the national and international news and the mini budget/stamp duty changes are still affecting it. I think it would be fair to say that the the market has been delayed by a couple of weeks and that national news has made the autumn market quieter than it has been for the last couple of years - rather than an avalanche of viewings for new houses we are more often now booking a steady stream. New houses coming on the market are still attracting quick interest from keen buyers - 1 Hughes Close, pictured below, is one of those examples, a modern detached house in a great position and needing updating it was brought to the market last week and snapped up by a chain free buyer keen to stop other buyers viewing.
We are however seeing houses that have been on the market for a while reducing in price to try and reach a new audience and often a re-launch with new descriptions and photos can generate that little bit of extra interest to turn the marketing around. Even a minor tweak of a price or a differently angled seasonal photo can encourage that one viewing. Sometimes however, with a unique house it can just be a case of reaching out to all the buyers and just finding the right one.
Is activity dropping off? In Marlborough we have seen a small spike in responses to our online marketing and in person viewings as we have launched new properties in September and October, however it is fair to say that viewers are more discerning and we would suggest that having experienced a very busy market over the last two years, we are perhaps returning to a more "normal" market.
Will prices drop around Marlborough? We are seeing some houses come on to the market that were bought at the height of the pandemic when there were multiple bidders for some properties and although it depends on the house, the location, and the price paid, some of these buyers may have paid over the asking or true price of some of these properties. So if these are coming on to the market again now, the sale price today may be very similar to what was paid a year ago.
However, the above certainly doesn't mean that prices are dropping. For anyone that bought three years ago or more, if they are coming to the market now their sale price will almost certainly be considerably more than their purchase price.
As always I feel that we are lucky in Marlborough to have many reasons to move to the area. We are on the edge of most peoples potential commutes, with travel in to London 2/3 days a week or more easily achievable. Couple this with easy access to major motorways, a number of airports, the coast, excellent countryside and local amenities and I think Marlborough and the surrounding villages have come in to their own in the last couple of years and I can see this continuing indefinitely. There has never been a better time to move to the area and if buyers are thinking about making that move I would advise not to delay!
