In 2021 if a seller was sensible about the asking price, within 2 weeks of appearing on the portals they were getting up to 50 viewings, 5 offers, and agreeing a sale at the best price ever. As you can imagine this meant that there were lots of disappointed potential buyers all year. Too much demand and too little supply, meant that prices in Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex rose by close to 10%. In plenty of sales last year, the agreed price was a good 20% over the asking price.
As we move into 2022 there is still a logjam of buyers and until we get some supply, prices will remain buoyant. However estate agents are reporting that there should be a raft of new instructions as we move towards the Spring, and there are some potential hiccoughs in the economic world. It looks as though interest rates are on the up for the first time since 2007, and a very large percentage of home owners will not have experienced anything but rock bottom rates. I think this will put a bit of a break on prices at the lower end of the market which might filter through, but for properties above £1m, until the huge latent demand is satisfied, prices are likely to remain unchanged.
If you are considering selling in the next couple of years; with the current high demand, I would advise that the earlier the better in 2022, would be the best time.
80% of the properties we bought for our clients last year, were not advertised on the internet. The benefits of instructing a buying agent based in the area you are looking who has expert knowledge, good local contacts, an excellent track record and a close relationship with all the local agents, is paying huge dividends in the current climate. We continue to get fantastic testimonials from our clients who have experienced the high level of professionalism and bespoke service that Stacks provides. In 2022, local knowledge and contacts are going to be more important than ever.