31
May
Tom Hayman-Joyce's latest market comment as featured in Cotswold
Life
Normal Service is Resumed
It is the height of the moving season and Tom Hayman-Joyce of
Hayman-Joyce takes a look at how the property market is shaping up
this spring.
Here we go again. Double dip. What will the property market do
now? When will it ever get back to normal?
Well, the mortgage lenders are still being difficult and the
conveyancers seem to be taking forever to process sales. Buyers are
being especially choosy and, bizarrely, some are even letting the
internet influence what they should pay for a property rather than
the market. Some sellers still think it is 2006 with prices to
match. Surveyors are ever more cautious.
These are everyday issues that affect all those involved in
buying and selling property no matter where you live. Plus there
are the other annoyances like Stamp Duty changes, and confused and
conflicting reports made by industry ‘insiders’ in the
press.
From a local point-of-view there are not so many people bringing
their properties to the market. This is frustrating for buyers, for
us, and the market generally as there are a good many buyers about
and new ones contacting us every day. With the London market so
buoyant and the Cotswolds first stop for so many moving out of the
capital there hasn’t been quite so good a time to sell here
since early 2007. Also, being part of the Mayfair Group of
independent estate agents with over 300 associated offices across
the UK, we are well placed to notice increased activity from those
moving around the country for business reasons.
So what should a sensible buyer or seller do? I think the answer
is to forget much of what one reads in the national newspapers and
get on with your move.
If you wait for things to get back to normal you will wait
forever because there is no normal in property. We are where we are
now. Tomorrow may be better or it may be worse. But who really
knows? So make the most of it now and move on. Don’t look
back except with some fond memories.
There may be ups and there will certainly be downs along the
way. But the best advice from the people who understand the
property market most of all – estate agents - is don’t
wait for things to get back to normal. This is normal, or as normal
as it gets.