Q. How is the property marketing fairing as we enter the final quarter of the year?
A. Certainly most would agree that it has remained a very unpredictable market for most of the year. Each month that passes seems different to the month before one minute it’s raging on lettings and quiet on sales next it’s busy on both. New property has been slow in coming to the market for most of the year but now it seems to be completely turning with fresh instructions coming through daily on both sales and lettings. Lettings has faired ok throughout the year as a whole and certainly rents have crept back up again after being hammered down by tenants calling all the shots over the last couple of years and despite the amount of new build in the area there still seems plenty of demand and not the over supply that was maybe predicated at the onset of the year. Sales has ticked along and had small spurts of activity throughout the year so far and equally lots of quiet months too. I’m happy to report that we are once again experiencing a little flurry of activity on sales – especially from the first time buyers market. I’m finding that as long as stock is priced right we are managing to put it under offer within 4 weeks, overpriced stock however sits on the market as buyers are reluctant to pay a penny more than they think a property is worth. Talks of a double dip remain prevalent throughout the industry with everybody trying to foresee the future without much avail. With so much second guessing going on I prefer to sit on the positive side of the fence and continue to look to the future with my optimistic hat on and consider a much brighter outlook for the rest of 2010 continuing on into 2011.