December 2021 Market Comment
December 8, 2021
What an extraordinary year it’s been and it looks like 2021 will be recording a record number of transactions, despite the pandemic. The combination of Covid and Brexit, the Suez blockage and gas pipeline crises have all played their part in creating shortages and pushing up prices. And with inflation racing towards 5% there was talk of the Bank of England increasing its base rate from the current remarkable low of 0.1%. The idea would be to take the edge off the confidence that people have to spend. It is this confidence, as well as people reconsidering their lifestyle needs, that have pushed up the average property price by nearly 7% this year (Source Zoopla) , with one in every sixteen residential properties changing hands.
But maybe an interest rate rise can be avoided as the new Omicron Covid variant slows down the rate of economic recovery.
But as estate agents, we have a problem – we’ve sold pretty much everything that was available – many of them over the asking price too. Whilst this is a nice problem to have, we are now desperately short of stock, which is 46% down on last year (Source NAEA), in relation to the number of buyers looking, which is up 28% up on the five-year average. (Source Zoopla)
You may have seen in the press that there are currently 24 buyers registered for every property for sale, but this doesn’t mean that you might struggle to find somewhere to move to. It all depends on your ability to move. So don’t delay putting your property on the market, especially this year, because you “might struggle to find somewhere” – as 30% of sales happen “off market”. In other words, we always have properties where the seller tells us that they’ll sell if we have the right buyer. And the right buyer is usually one of our own sellers whose property is under offer to a cash buyer!
So have a little faith. If you have any thoughts of moving, please don’t be deterred. Just call us, and we’ll happily come over advise you on your options. You might be pleasantly surprised!
