22
Nov
Stocking Filler
Alastair Woodgate of Rumball Sedgwick takes a look at the
property market this December and suggests that this is just the
time to pick up a seasonal bargain.
December can sometimes be a bit of a non-month in the estate agency
year. People seem to have a lot more things to think about than
moving, and the Christmas break seems to go on for so long
nowadays. The weather is often far from ideal and most people who
wanted to move before Christmas made their buying decisions by the
early autumn.
But that is what makes December such a good month to go house
hunting. There are not so many other homebuyers about, and as
it’s so quiet some sellers can be only too keen to listen to
the sort of offer they wouldn’t have considered a month or
two ago.
In years past the market used to pick up in the spring. But in more
recent times it has kick-started into life in January. With the
financial world still in so much disarray there is great
uncertainty about what will happen in 2012. But that is what helps
makes this December such a good time to be prowling the market for
property.
There are plenty of very good houses and flats for sale right now
with owners anxiously looking for buyers. There are some first time
buyers creeping into the market - especially now that it often
makes more sense to buy a property rather than rent one. This helps
second and third time buyers, and with lenders slowly starting to
take the choke off mortgage availability there is movement in the
market when property is properly priced and attractively
presented.
So instead of hitting the shops so much this December in a
pre-Christmas frenzy, or getting ready for the early sale bargains,
why not hit the estate agents and grab a property bargain. Unlike
so much we buy at this time of year a property is not just for
Christmas it is for life. It is surely one of the best stocking
fillers we could give our families and ourselves.