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.