HEAD OR HEART

Yet another month has gone by and we are now reaching the conclusion of the plethora of bank holidays which mark the start of summer with Her Majesty’s Jubilee concluding matters for the time being.
Bank holidays have a mixed effect on the market; it can be quiet, families are away, particularly at Easter, and then you get an uplift of interest once matters return to normal.

The housing market is not quite as frantic as earlier in the year but the majority of property is still commanding good levels of interest as there remains a distinct lack of supply. One always has to be wary in times such as now as there is a fine dividing line between marketing at the right price and achieving a sale and maybe pitching that figure a little too high and losing that critical early spike of enquiries from buyers. This can be seen to some degree by the number of properties that are showing up as ‘reduced’ on the property portals. I have just done a search for recently listed properties and 20% of those listed are marked as ‘reduced’.

This, of course, does not tell the whole story but surely there must be some suggestion that the market is calming down a little, or is it that we are becoming too optimistic in terms of our expectations. Many people blame the agents for the increase in prices but the agent only offers their opinion based on experience and knowledge of the market. A valuation is purely a matter of an individual opinion; it is the customer that buys the property who dictates the price and if there is strong competition that valuation may be exceeded. If the market cools then the buyers may not feel inclined to offer the price at which a house is advertised, hence the reductions – the prospective buyer is saying, no, I don’t want to pay that price.

This does not necessarily mean that house prices are falling but more a case of stabilising and not increasing at such a rate as has been achieved over the past months. Buy with your head, not your heart. That is often difficult to achieve.

There are many people selling at present who have no particular property in mind to buy, they are just happy to wait for the right house. Let us hope that the level of new instructions gives them an opportunity to make a reasonable choice.