The Waiting Game

Due to the fall in prices in PCL over this year, coupled with the sharp, post Brexit fall in sterling against the dollar and the euro, we are beginning to see more buyers stepping into the market and beginning to make offers. As we mentioned recently, we are finding that vendors who are pricing their properties correctly in line with current market conditions are achieving offers at asking or very close to it.

There are, of course, other types of buyers out there: those who want to buy but who feel that prices and sterling will continue to fall, and then those who are trying it on and putting forward ridiculous offers. For those buyers waiting for a further fall in prices and sterling, all we can say is that they may be right and they may be wrong, however it is very hard to call the bottom of the market. Our advice for those who are looking to buy a home or a rental investment, and are prepared to hold on to it for 5-10 years, is that stepping into the market now, at  a discounted rate of 15%-35% from the peak of 2014, seems like an opportunity not to be missed.

For those buyers putting in ‘ridiculous offers’, our guess is that these are probably the same people who’ve not bought in the past 10 years, waiting for the market to collapse, and they will probably still be there in a decade’s time!

Back in the real world, there are buyers who have been telling me that they are keen to buy but want to wait and see if the Chancellors autumn budget on November 23^rd sees stamp duty or primary and secondary homes come down.  If this is the case, then surely over the next couple of weeks is the time to agree a sale, as by the time the solicitors have done their due diligence and are ready to exchange we should know if the budget has seen the chancellor lower the stamp duty thresholds.