More Property Wanted for Waiting Buyers

August is usually a quieter month for house buying with the children off school, holidays in full swing and (hopefully) better weather allowing more leisure activity. This year might prove an exception to the rule.  In fact, it might prove to be an exception to the rule for the second year running, because August 2020 was exceptionally busy too, as we came out of lockdown, with holidays hard to take and pent up demand for house moving at its highest.

What we lack compared with a year ago though, is enough houses to sell to meet current demand.  Stock is short and this is acting as a disincentive to potential vendors to list their own properties for sale.  If they can't find something to buy, they won't put their own house on the market.  It's a problem.

Trigg & Co Isle of Wight, is the top selling office on the Island and we would ordinarily expect to have a register of around 70-80 available properties for buyers to browse and view.  Right now we have an available stock of just under 30 homes for sale - albeit with a pipeline of deals many times higher.  Properly priced property is selling fast to willing buyers and for the market to move forward and meet demand, more stock needs to come to the market over the Autumn weeks.  A shortage of property for sale inevitably leads to one thing - price rises.  After a period of strong upward price pressure, buyers, lenders and regulators would all like to see some stability ahead.

On a purely practical level for Island vendors, it makes no sense to wait until you have found something to buy before putting your own property on the market.  If you have a house to sell, you are unlikely to be taken seriously as a would-be buyer by a vendor, if you can't proceed and offer them a completed chain.  If you are fortunate enough to have a conditional offer accepted, you are under immediate pressure to get your own house on the market and sell it in very short order.  This is stressful, is less likely to result in geting the best price or the best buyer and means you can't move in a timescale that suits you.  It also fuels this shortage of stock discussed above, and stops the market operating in an orderly fashion.

So if you are thinking about a move in 2021 or even during 2022 - it all starts with the 'P' word - PREPARATION.

The first thing to do is to get a FREE, no obligation of your current property from Trigg & Co.  We will tell you what we believe your home is worth, what changes or improvements might help you get the very best price and back up our advice with hard facts and details of other properties like yours that have sold and are on the market.  We will discuss marketing strategies with you including professional photography, floorplans, social media and portal advertising and our 'low key' marketing options that allow you to test the water while you look around.

We would usually expect to complete a sale in around 13 weeks, but with the stamp duty holiday and the sheer volume of sales going through, lenders, surveyors and especially lawyers have been struggling to keep up and things have been taking longer than we would ordinarily expect.  So again it's important to plan ahead.  If you want to get moved in 2021, the time to act is now.

The latest report from Zoopla shows how the number of available homes has shrunk:
"The number of properties up for sale across England was around a quarter lower in the first six months of this year than it was at the same point a year ago, Zoopla said.  The stock shortage problem has been exacerbated by a rise in the number of first-time buyers coming to the market, who, of course, have no property to sell.  Getting more space remains a big draw for many prospective buyers, with demand for houses twice as high as the 2017-19 average, while the popularity of flats has waned."

Rightmove make the same point in their July House Price Report:
"The busiest first half of a year ever recorded by Rightmove pushes the average price of property coming to market to a new record high for the fourth consecutive month, and £21,389 higher (+6.7%) in just six months. The new all-time high of £338,447 is due to a monthly rise of 0.7% (+£2,374). This is the largest monthly rise at this time of year since July 2007. Rightmove analysis has identified a shortfall of 225,000 homes for sale which, if available, would have helped to maintain a more normal level of property stock for sale and would have helped stabilise prices. This stark shortfall, along with frenzied buyer activity, is fuelling record high prices and leading to record lows in available stock for sale. With high activity levels continuing despite the June stamp duty deadline now passing, there is an urgent need for these low stocks of property for sale to be rebuilt in order for price stability to return".

It's a great time to sell.  Call Trigg & Co, the top selling office on the Isle of Wight, and "find out what your's is worth".  You might be in for a pleasant surpise!

Call 01983 525710.