The hot news this spring is that Home Information Packs have now been scrapped, although as part of the selling process vendors will still be required to produce an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate), thus removing much of the red tape required to put a house on the market, not to mention the unnecessary cost. The spring market in this part of the world has got off to an extremely busy start, a much greater volume of new instructions are coming to the market largely as a result of vendors feeling that they have a realistic chance of achieving a sale.
For our part, our volume of sales has continued to rise to a point now where we are undisputedly the main volume agent in Hale and Altrincham, and this coupled with our extremely well organised sales team, has been producing dividends. Looking at the prospect over the next six to twelve months, my honest view is that the volume of properties coming to the market will continue to increase to a point where purchasers will have more choice than they have had for many years. The laws of supply and demand would tend to indicate that as supply increases sale prices will level out and this coupled with the continuing low interest rates should make for a stable market.
There is no question that in economic terms the country has a long way to go before being back fully on our feet, however the property market, as long as it continues to benefit from reasonable borrowing costs and sensible asking prices, ought to continue in reasonable form. The general consensus is that buyers will expect to see some nominal growth over the next twelve to eighteen months which is in marked contrast to those who bought at the end of 2007.
When you look at our predictions in August, they seemed to have been fairly accurate borne out with the market moving forward in a positive manner albeit with relatively static house prices. There has been a huge increase in demand particularly at the lower levels and one of the pleasing aspects of the last couple of months has been that there have been a number of good quality transactions at £2M plus which was a portion of the market which had to all intents and purposes completely stopped.
If you are looking for a prediction for the next six months, our honest view is that you will see relatively static house prices, continuing low interest rates, which will afford the market some stability and the key to selling any houses will be accurate pricing and well organised aggressive marketing.
The general economy is obviously still a worry, unemployment is likely to get worse before it gets better and the overwhelming debt that the country seems to be carrying will obviously take some time to right itself. For our part, the property market appears to be one of the most stable forms of investments at the moment. In September of 07 before the general collapse of the banking system, the property market was already starting to decline, therefore the recovery in house prices in all honesty was always going to come a year ahead of the general improvement and this is the situation we are currently enjoying.
A return to traditional values where buyers will acquire properties not expecting colossal capital gains is likely to be the situation for the next two to three years. However with the worry of falling house prices having been removed for the time being, Hale and Bowdon are profiting from not only a good quality housing stock but some fantastic amenities which attract people from all areas.
Here’s hoping for a good 2010. Complements of the season from everybody at John Hilditch.
For those of you who have been reading our STOP PRESS NEWS since the beginning of the year many of you will be wondering where I acquired my crystal ball. For much of the last twelve months we have been predicting that the property market would bottom out and indeed turn in the right direction in the third quarter of 2009 and indeed that seems to be exactly the case.
For our part, we have agreed in excess of £15M worth of sales since the third week in June and in comparison with the last six months of last year and the early part of this year, this is a truly remarkable result. For most of this year I have been insisting that once the perception on behalf of the buyers is that the market has bottomed, that there is really no reason not to proceed. We are seeing many people giving notice, and terminating their rented accommodation because in all honesty, it is unlikely that property values are going to fall much, if any further.
So what for the next six to twelve months? Well, most of the articles printed in the heavy weight daily papers allude to the so called experts revising their forecasts, very much like betting on a horse which finished last and then asking if they can have another go. In my estimation if you want an honest opinion as to where the market is likely to be over the next two quarters, I anticipate a period of stability during which houses prices will neither go up nor down. The volume of transactions over the next six months is likely to be significantly increased on the corresponding period last year, and this is already being borne out by the increase in mortgage approvals in June and July.
Unemployment seems to be the one black spot, both in terms of the wider economy and the property market, and this if anything will limit any dramatic growth in house prices. Despite the difficulties experienced by purchasers in trying to obtain mortgages the recovery of the property market is still continuing despite the mortgage drought, and therefore one can only surmise that when mortgage lending does eventually free back to normal levels, that the market will continue in the normal fashion.
In the meantime, if I were a buyer in rented accommodation, I don’t think I would wait too much longer before making a purchase.
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