Rightmove, the UKs largest online property portal, has recently published its view of the market in their November Press Release and it’s interesting to compare their findings on a national basis with the market here in Cornwall.
Here are a few highlights from their report.
What Rightmove say:
“Average new seller asking prices drop by 1.7% (-£6,088) this month to £362,143, as Christmas approaches and sellers continue to adopt more pricing realism to attract a buyer.”
What DowlingDodd are finding:
There is now evidence in the market and agents are reporting that successful vendors are accepting that as a result in reduced levels of activity, to attract a buyer they are being more competitive with their asking prices.
What Rightmove say:
“Though the transition from the frenzied pandemic market back towards more normal activity levels has been slow, key indicators point to a year that so far has been better than many predicted following the turbulent end to 2022:”
What DowlingDodd are finding:
Levels of activity are certainly reduced, and this is reflected by the fact that we have carried out fewer surveys so far this year but there have been some months where surveys have been on a par with 2022 and certainly overall the market and number of transactions reported by Estate Agents so far this year are above what had been anticipated at the beginning of 2023.
What Rightmove say:
“Two consecutive Base Rate holds has helped to keep buyer demand in line with 2019’s level. Now, many will be looking to the forthcoming Autumn Statement and hoping for more than a renewal of the mortgage guarantee scheme”.
What we are finding:
The Autumn Statement was announced on 22 November 2023. It’s probably a little too early to judge what affect this is going to have.
There has been a reduction in the number of Mortgage Valuations in 2023 and this reflects possibly that whilst interest rates have been rising, potential purchasers are postponing any decisions to move until they see more stability in interest rates.
2023 has been a year, as predicted, of change in the market, but the consensus is that the changes have not been as significant as predicted at the beginning of the year.
Interest rates have remained relatively high, but the trend seems to be that they may have peaked. The government has met its target to reduce inflation, currently standing at 4.6% down from over 10%.
Nevertheless, whilst as with most businesses involved in the residential market, we have seen reduced levels of activity confidence still remains and in the last 12 months we have been involved in surveying and valuing some of the most expensive properties we have ever dealt with.
A few years ago, it was common for our clients to have agreed to purchase well over the asking price, this has now come to an end and the majority of the properties we are surveying have been agreed below the asking prices.
We have also seen that rather than properties we are inspecting having only been offered for sale for a matter of days, they have been marketed for longer and buyers are no longer being rushed into making hasty decisions.
The expression “we are now seeing a more normal market” is definitely true and we can see no reason why the local market will increase significantly in the next year but at the same time we are confident that there will be no major downturn like that which followed the financial crash of 2007/2008.
Regardless of market conditions its always important that when buying your new home, you seek the best possible advice and here at Dowlingdodd with our vast experience over many years we are definitely best placed to give you that advice.
