August 2022 Market Update: Why Now Is The Best Time To Sell Your Home

At Centrick, many of our vendors, landlords and investors have been asking us when is the best time to sell your home or offload parts of their property portfolio amongst all of this uncertainty. The answer is simple: there’s no time like the present! With the property market starting to slow down – albeit only marginally – and with existing sales taking an average of 150 days to complete, there is a definite rush to get ‘sold’ sooner rather than. In this piece, Centrick will be running you through why now is the best time to sell your home by breaking down the statistics, facts and property trends that could impact your sale, so you can spend the Christmas holidays in your new home!

Demand Is High

Demand for property is still far outweighing supply, according to the latest reports. As the post-pandemic market has stabilised, demand for property has increased by 49 percent compared to pre-Covid levels according to the TFA, with many home-movers still on the search for properties that offer more space for their new home-working setups. Demand is particularly high for three-bedroom semi-detached properties, with these being the most sought-after listings this year. This isn’t to say that flats and apartments aren’t in demand – in fact, quite the contrary. Hybrid-working models, which see employees balance their time between home and the office, favour the city-centre apartment lifestyle for its convenience and commutability to key business hubs. This makes it a particularly lucrative time for portfolio landlords to list their city centre units for rent, with convenient properties being extremely desirable in the current market.

However, Tim Bannister at Rightmove has stated that the demand for property is set to reduce from a “boil to a simmer” in the coming months, indicating that demand for real estate will remain high, but could slowly reduce over time. This makes it sensible to try and sell your home now as a means of taking advantage of the current surge in activity.

House Price Trends Are Unpredictable

The property market is remarkably stable for all house types at present, with there being a steady, gradual increase in property values from October 2021 to June 2022. However, with the state of inflation and the cost of living crisis, it seems likely that price increases could start to level out in the coming months as buyer affordability starts to wane. This is already starting to happen, with the Halifax House Price Index for July 2022 indicating the first fall in house prices of 0.1 per cent since June 2021.

Although only marginal, this dip in property prices has been anticipated for quite some time thanks to the exponential growth in the housing market when compared to other costs. Since 1971, the average house has become 52 times more expensive, whereas the average wage has only increased by 30 times. With the economy becoming increasingly dubious, it is anticipated that the property market will start to slow down and prices will become more affordable. This is completely normal, and only reflects the same cycle we have experienced in the past, whereby there must at some point be a price correction after such huge levels of growth. However, before the market begins to put its foot on the brakes and the upward trajectory of house prices slows, it’s worth taking advantage of the high asking prices by listing your home sooner rather than later.

Get Sold Before Christmas

Whilst the festive season has some of Rightmove’s busiest days (January and February are particularly important for property portal web traffic), there are undoubtedly more stumbling blocks surrounding a Christmas move. Getting sold before Christmas isn’t merely about being moved in to your property to enjoy the festivities. With solicitors, conveyancers and estate agents all taking time off over the festive season, progressing a property sale over the holidays can be much more challenging. What’s more, buyers and sellers alike may have different priorities during this period, especially with gift-giving season causing additional stress for many of us, which makes it wise to get listed before this potential shift in priorities. With properties taking longer than ever to reach completion after an offer is accepted – 150 days on average, to be exact – it’s time to start planning ahead if you want to be settled into your new home by the festive season. In case you hadn’t noticed, at the time of writing there are less than 150 days until December 25^th, meaning that the race is already on if you want to spend the festive period settled into your new home…

If you’re looking sell your home before Christmas, there’s no time like the present! Centrick’s team of local experts have decades of experience finding ready, willing and able buyers for a range of properties across Birmingham, Solihull, Nottingham and beyond. To beat the Christmas rush, get in contact with Centrick today to request a free, no-obligation valuation of your home!

Written By

Jenna Coghlan

Job Title

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