Summer 2010
The property market feels as if it has shut down early for the summer.
It’s an old excuse – the summer holidays – like the Budget, like the Election, like the Ash Cloud – always an excuse.
But something has got to give. There are more vendors and potential vendors entering the gates to sell, but few buyers with real apptetite to buy. Part of the problem is expectation, of course – on the sellers side that they will get 2009/2010 prices and buyers thinking prices are going to come off their highs over winter 2009/2010. Sellers are wrong and buyers are right – house prices have come down and are coming down.
It’s the ‘coming down’ part that also delays buyers, who decide that they will only transact when the market has reached the very bottom. The trouble is that most wait too long and enter the market as it hits or reaches the bottom, and then they have to chase it upwards again. The accepted rule, and City wisdom that you should chase and buy into the market as it goes down remains the same for property as it does for stocks and shares.
Many potential buyers are also sellers – but see themselves as sellers first and foremost. They want to get the best possible price for their property, and not until they have achieved that, will they start looking. So nobody moves – because everybody has got to sell, before they buy. Is this the right approach in a rapidly-moving market, particularly when many are looking to move from one property to another?
It makes much more sense for sellers to become active buyers – they are engaged with the market and are looking on an on-going basis on what’s selling, why, for how much. Not only can they be realistic about what they can buy, but they can also deal on the property they are looking to sell.
Our advice to buyers and sellers remains the same, get your house in order and ready for market by talking to your selling agent, get your money sorted - but , above all, once you have done all that, don’t forget to actively enter the market as a buyer. You want to move, don’t you?
