January 2010

The end of 2009 and the first days of 2010 have seen this part of the world, like most of the country, a virtual winter wonderland. However picturesque this might be it is not exactly conducive to viewing or from the estate agents point of view an ideal time to market property.  More than one viewing has had to be aborted due to the weather and road conditions.  But now with the snow having cleared away there are the signs of a tentative start to new or “renewed price wise” properties returning to the market. Certainly not a flood – but the signs are there!

2009 ended on quite a buoyant note, a good improvement on the start of the year. 6% price increase on an average property was not unknown and some of the more prestige properties might have achieved an increase of around 10%.

The RICS estimates that current stocks of property are around 20% less than twelve months ago but getting a mortgage seems a little easier.

With interest rates still low this surely is a good time to buy. The Election to come might distract us for a bit but with city bonuses back in the news it looks likely that property prices might continue to move very gently upwards.