Market Comment June 2018

So, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender has dismissed fears that the UK housing market is heading for a crash despite posting news of the biggest monthly drop in prices.  Reading this always makes me chuckle.  Of course, some house prices have been realigned or re-positioned for a better word.

Overvaluing agents and over ambitious sellers always try their luck early doors in the new year, they get sucked in to high vanity values and then reality hits in April and May and they have to then chase the market the wrong way by having to drop their prices.  It’s a big no no if you are a motivated seller and you want to sell at the best price the market will give then you have to work with it, not against it.  Now we are seeing the result of these price changes and lets understand previous sustained falls in house prices have tended to occur only when rising unemployment forces people to sell their homes, and here the UK jobs’ market remains strong and unemployment is at its lowest level since 1975 and real wage growth has resumed.

You can see why some agents are not selling their stock as they have created different markets and are still operating at different speeds, and the overall picture is one of a less buoyant market both in terms of price growth and number of sales agreed. Sellers need to pitch their price at a tempting level to entice buyers, as while there are signs of strong demand there appears to be hesitation among some buyers to commit.

I have illustrated before that this is a sellers and buyers’ market now, and so it should be.  Both parties need each other and what I have seen from my reporting figures are that clients selling through Lock & Key are enjoying the rewards of moving quicker for the net gain and a smoother process.