By Richard Jones
Partner
Jackson-Stops
THE latest RICS figures show stocks of available properties have been falling for many months, yet sales volumes remain constant. How can this be true?
Ask anyone involved in property about the current house market and their response will almost always involve terms such as ‘sluggishness’, ‘price sensitivity’ and above all ‘uncertainty’.
For a long time now politically, things have been highly uncertain, which can lead to economic uncertainty, affecting salaries, bonuses and house prices.
Yet demand seems to remain constant in relation to supply, but constrained. Slow salary growth and tight credit control is limiting what buyers can pay, although high employment, reducing numbers of private landlords, and ‘Help to Buy’ incentives have helped to fuel demand across the market. First-time buyers currently account for 20 per cent of all sales in the UK which gives the ability for buyers to climb the property ladder.
A year ago, some buyers were hoping for a bargain, only to be faced with sellers wanting a ‘Wow’ price. Today, much more common sense prevails, and correctly priced properties are selling within a very short timescale and those that are priced too high can become stale very quickly. Buyers with cash funds not incumbent of a chain are taken very seriously and are accounting for a high proportion of sales.
Many of our buyers and sellers have been in the market for some time and they have come to recognise that the cornerstones of the current market are unlikely to significantly change in the near future.
In effect, it is a very stable housing market where prices are steady, interest rates remain the same and gazumping and gazundering are terms of the past. As a seller you can focus on the quality of your buyer, and buyers can focus on the quality of the property. While supply of property remains low, then demand continues to be strong. It is the most transparent and fairest market we have seen for some time.
Contact Jackson-Stops in Northampton on 01604 632991 or visit www.jackson-stops.co.uk