Property Market Update

Here are just a few of the most common questions I get asked everyday about the property market. 

• What do I think is going to happen to the property market this year?

• Are house prices going down?

• Is now a good time to sell? 

• Will my house sell if I go on the market? 

Whilst there is no straightforward or definite answer to any of these questions, I can offer you my advice with the benefit of over 30 years experience in the industry as your local Estate Agent.

I’ve been in the business now through, three recessions a credit crunch during my career and the most important thing I can tell you is that the market always bounces back and usually much quicker than you might imagine, after all there’s a reason for the saying, there’s no better investment than bricks and mortar, as long as you look at the market in the medium term.

Firstly, if you are looking to sell your home, you’ve already made one of the best decisions of your life by buying a property in St Albans or the surrounding villages in the first place, St Albans doesn’t follow national trends, there will always be more people that want to buy here than properties for sale, so with the simple supply and demand rules the chances of finding a good buyer are way better than average.

Although houses prices have dropped over the last few months in the uk, prices in St Albans haven’t been affected as much as the UK average so you shouldn’t expected to sell for too much less, plus if you are looking to buy again locally any change will be reflected in what you are buying, in fact if you are looking to upsize to a more expensive property there’s a good chance you will be better off with regards to the price gap in price between buying and selling.

With regards to the market, January is usually a fairly quite month with people just getting over Christmas and thinking about their credit card bills coming in after all the expense involved and I don’t normally find it get busy until the end of the month at the earliest l, but this year has really surprised me with just how busy it is with new properties coming to the market, sales being agreed and new buyers registering on my books for property, especially first time buyers while there is still the advantage of the stamp duty holiday, partly fuelled by the rises happening with the rental market, which seem to be outweighing the higher interest rates for mortgages, yes it costs more to buy at the moment, but it doesn’t compare to renting for another two years which on average would cost around them  £30,000 of money they’d never see back. 

Houses are actually selling, as a prime example we’ve just sold a house this week on Spooners Drive Park Street, they had 13 viewers and offers from  five buyers in less than a week, and we sold it for maybe only ten or fifteen thousand less than last year. 

I would be delighted to offer you more specific advice about your own situation if you are thinking of buying or visit you at your property if you are looking to sell and would like a free no obligation market appraisal.