Christmas is coming!
We may be basking in some of the hottest temperatures on record, but Samuel Wood Co-Director Russell Griffin has been thinking about Christmas in his latest column in the Shropshire Star:
Who else is starting to think of all things Christmas? Log fires, the smell of pine needles and homely candles and mulled wine. No? Not yet? Haven’t had your summer holidays yet you say. When it comes to buying or selling properties though, we are encouraging you to get the festive season firmly in your mind.
Property portal Rightmove released its fifth property index of the year recently, and the stats and the sentiment clearly show, that whether you are buying or selling - in fact even more so if you are selling to move home yourself – you need to be coming to market and buying now in order to get into your new home by Christmas.
This may seem far away. But let me tell you, it is not. It is less than five months and here are some key stats from the index report which explain why:
It is currently taking an average of 150 days to complete a purchase after agreeing a sale, 50 days longer than at this time in 2019 (pre-pandemic).
A backlog is to blame for the delays and according to one property quick sale purchase specialist, the average sale time can actually be up to 248 days from instruction, as reported this week in The Negotiator.
It’s clear therefore that anyone hoping to complete a deal in time to enjoy Christmas 2022 in a new home, needs to come to market in the next few weeks (eek!) to give themselves the best chance of finding a buyer and completing the transaction by the end of the year.
There are more than 500,000 homes in the UK which are currently sat as sold subject to contract. This massive figure is a whopping 44 per cent higher than it was at this time in 2019, and 39 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic five-year average.
It is still a strong market, as the index figures attest. The price of property coming to market has hit a fifth consecutive record of £368,614. This is only modest 0.3 per cent increase in June and the pace of price growth is definitely slowing.
But the market is still performing well, and many properties are still selling above asking price.
Thankfully, even if the house price rises are starting to level off, we are starting to see more properties coming to market, so the imbalance between high buyer numbers and low stock is beginning to tip.
And I predict it will continue to do so with the call to buy and sell before Christmas and as Rightmove predict, annual growth is still on track to be 5 per cent by the end of the year.
Despite the five interest rate hikes, buyers are actually telling us they want to purchase now and fix their rate before further expected increases happen. And sadly, they are expected.
Completion times are still frustratingly long. Chains are unpredictable, but always have a conversation with your agent about their skill in progressing them as that is essential in chains with multiple buyers these days.
There are simply too many buyers wanting to purchase right now, so we expect things to continue as they are for the foreseeable. But you do need to think about getting a wriggle on if you want to put your Christmas decorations up in a different house this year.