2010 Starts With a Bang

Despite the gloomy forecasts of many of the property gurus for 2010 January has started at a pace and since the recent thaw over much of the United Kingdom buyers have been appearing in their droves.

I believe that this is now the time for those vendors who have been holding back from placing their properties on the market to act. There are many more buyers actively looking with few properties available. The pent up demand seems to be finally overspilling and we urgently require more properties to meet buyers expectations.

This recent and dramatic increase in activity has perhaps taken us by surprise but the advice seems to be to take advantage of the situation. All local agents are reporting strong interest but with a shortage of available property. Spring certainly seems to have come early to the local property market. Many of the well known property portals seem to back this increase in demand reporting volume increases in the early part of 2010 of 25%! This is compared to the same period in 2009 when we were still in the doldrums however.

The National Association of Estate Agents has revealed its predictions for the UK property market over the next twelve months. It says that predicting the market is hugely dependant on how much lending will be made available. The Association says that house prices could remain flat or in some markets possibly drop slightly for the first six months before picking up again and remaining stable in the second half of the year. Supply will remain stable in the run up to the General Election after which there are likely to be more houses available for sale particularly if Home Information Packs are scrapped.

The General Election could cause a lull in activity as people adopt a wait and see approach although a number of buyers will continue to take advantage of lower interest rates. The continued presence of first time buyers is also critical to market success and I believe that the ending of the stamp duty holiday has the potential to reverberate around the market. Lets hope that the levels of interest in the South Hams property market continues and produces a busy Spring Period.