Property Market is Still Big News
It never ceases to amaze me how the media can put such a dramatic spin on the UK housing market. The headlines vary from week to week; one minute there is a boom and bubble and the next minute the market is busting.! The fact of the matter is that either of the two scenarios, boom or bust, sells papers. But what is really happening?
Obviously there’s a massively strong London property market. A lot of this money, mostly cash, is from overseas. Recent reports, however, are now suggesting the market is cooling after a frantic few months. This is purely down to supply. The agents that I have talked to in Central London are saying that there were so few properties coming onto the market that, at one stage, buyers were falling over themselves and bidding well in excess of asking prices in order to secure their home. In more recent weeks, agents report an influx of new properties thus having this cooling effect.
The most popular question I am now asked is whether the Dartmouth market is following what’s happening in London? The answer simply is no. Dartmouth has a specialist property market anyway and does not tend to follow national trends.
Dartmouth has seen a volatile couple of months. We have had periods where we have been busier than we have been for years followed by periods of extreme calm. It is obvious to see when searching the local property websites, that buyers at the top end of the market are conspicuous by their absence. A typical holiday fisherman’s cottage in the town centre sells extremely well up to £250,000 and properties priced up to £500,000 to £600,000 are also selling.
We are now looking forward to the Summer period. I hope that we have a sustainable and steady improvement in the market but I think any price rises will be sensible. Properly priced property will attract buyers.
P.S. This was written the day before the new recommended mortgage lending criteria.
Richard Blake 01803 832288 www.richard-blake.co.uk
First published By The Dart July 2014
