UK market review - number 28, 2011
Kent, £1.35 million guide
Time and money
The overall picture from our country house offices is a robust one, with the number of sales to date on a par with last year and the average value per transaction slightly up. This aggregate position is, however, somewhat misleading: at different price brackets and from one region to another, levels of activity currently vary quite dramatically. For sellers, this means that time, as well as price, needs to be taken into consideration.
North Yorkshire, £1.15 million guide
We are handling a lot of transactions in the £500,000 to £800,000 family house market at the moment, giving its buyers and sellers alike real confidence about 'where the market is' and an expectation of being able to complete a deal in the reasonably near future. In itself, this activity encourages more people to decide to move, generating still greater fluidity.
In such a market, if a well publicised, well presented property remains available for many months, the culprit will normally be price. One should not jump to this conclusion though, especially as one looks beyond the mainstream.
For properties that are architecturally quirky, or remote, or which have a literally exclusive price tag, the number of potential buyers will always be lower. They also tend to be purchased as a luxury and, in the current market, buyers for such properties, especially beyond the reaches of London, are unusually rare.
This doesn't mean that price is less important: today's buyers are clued-up and keen to see value for money (so if you've had several offers at around the same level, perhaps they're trying to tell you something). But if there is good reason to believe your price makes sense, only slashing it to fire sale levels will significantly increase the pool of potential buyers. Such drastic action aside, allowing sufficient time for marketing and circumstance to draw in the natural bidders, is vital. Almost without exception, our sales of multi-million pound, rural properties this year, have involved a marketing strategy which spanned several months.
Essex, excess £2 million guide
Oxfordshire, £1.7 million guide
Buying for positive reasons
Contrasting nicely with the oft-gloomy headlines, a semi-formal survey of our recent buyers has revealed that evidence of sellers trading down to release cash is patchy, at best. Very few of our offices report this as a noticeable trend and, overall, the feedback suggests that 'down sizers' are outnumbered by those trading up (or buying a second home) by almost two to one, the latter category representing about 25% of all our buyers. Around 14% bought for 'lifestyle' reasons, such as a move out of town or to a seaside cottage, whilst others bought for investment. Our largest category (about 27%) is those whose move was job related. Thus the great majority of our recent sales can be said to reflect, at the very least, positive economic activity and, more often than not, real confidence.
Improving balance of supply and demand
The number of available properties, though still above average, continues to fall and this is gradually restoring balance to the market. In terms of sales volumes, we enjoyed, in the main, a healthy spring, a tougher than expected early summer and rather higher levels of activity than usual since, almost to the point at which the post-summer market could be said to have started early. Such an extension of time is welcome and augurs well for the coming months.
Brighton, £1.1 million guide