ARE ESTATE AGENTS FACING THE MOST PRICE SENSITIVE HOUSING MARKET IN MANY YEARS?

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Property portal Rightmove has reported that it believes that Estate Agents are facing one of the most price-sensitive housing markets seen in many years. Its housing market analyst Miles Shipside makes the claim within the company’s latest House Price Index, blaming the trend on buyers “looking for value or for homes with extra quality and appeal that suit their needs,” he says.

Rightmove also says that the Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement last week that Brexit will be delayed until October is good news for the nation’s property market, which is currently in the middle of its traditionally busiest period. “No doubt there are still a lot of twists and turns to come, but this extension could give hesitating home movers encouragement that there is now a window of relative certainty in uncertain times. We are not anticipating an activity surge, but maybe a wave of relief that releases some pent-up demand to take advantage of static property prices and cheap fixed-rate mortgages.”

The good news for sellers is that according to the Land Registry’s own House Price Index, asking prices increased by 1.1% during April, the biggest month-on-month increase for over a year. Locally, we at ‘Iles & Jenkin’ believe that the demand for properties currently far outweighs supply. Buyers, particularly those looking for family homes, have become frustrated at the lack of new homes coming to market.

But, despite the present positivity for sellers, we would definitely urge caution when setting your selling price and also with your selling expectations. With any sales ‘product’ the laws of supply and demand will often prevail and generally if there is a shortage of supply and a good level of demand the price is largely academic – but the same is not true with the property. An inflated asking price of even a small percentage can often mean that buyers will overlook your property and simply not view it – and then even the best Estate Agent in the world will struggle to get you offers for your consideration!

If you would like to chat with us about this article or any other property related matter, we would love to hear from you. Call us on 01934 512537 or better still, pop into our office anytime.

Thanks for reading!

Sue Iles