Q. The market seems a little crazy at the moment, at the beginning of the year a friend sold their property within 24 hours for the full asking price. I thought I would take advantage of the market also and placed mine on for sale 4 weeks ago, however, it’s still not sold and I have had very few viewings. I had one offer but it was no where near the asking price. What is happening?
A. Correct, compared to the beginning of the year the market is definitely a whole different ball game. 6 months ago we were in the midst of a very strong sellers market, with vendors naming their price and achieving it. This arose because of a lack of properties to the amount of buyers around, this in turn leading to pushing up the prices, buyers being knocked on exchange for more money and prices escalating, almost monthly. Today however, 6 months on although the prices have remained stable they are certainly static and seemed to have levelled out. That together with a large supply of properties hitting the market over the past 4 weeks has provided the impact on the property market that you are now experiencing. The market now is firmly being controlled by the buyers, hence low offers and buyers taking their time to come to offer. As long as your property is priced correctly to sell and you are prepared to negotiate you will definitely sell, although a little patience is likely to be needed.