January 2012

2011 ended with a flurry of activity; many properties that had been languishing suddenly going under offer.This may in part have been due to sensible price reductions. Alternatively, those who had been waiting to buy realised that with no sign of improvement in the economy, stock levels were unlikely to improve much. Fed up with renting and taking advantage of the continuing low interest rates they made the decision to go ahead and buy.

I think 2012 is going to continue much the same. Main stream property may see a further fall in price albeit a small one. Those ‘best in class’ should continue to attract a premium as prime property remains scarce. The upper end of the market is particularly short of supply. Pricing will be key at all levels and despite a shortage of stock vendors will not pay inflated prices unnecessarily. Hopefully, the fact that interest rates are due to be kept low for the foreseeable future should encourage people to come to the market.