Here be Dragons

Wed 04 May 2022

There was a time when spring was the perfect season to put one’s property on the market. There were charmingly simple reasons for this. In May the trees are newly in leaf and everything seems fresh, the days are warmer and longer, and buyers often like to move in by the summer holidays or before the start of a new school year. Yes, spring has always been a perfect time to enter the property market.
 
Nowadays however, although the above still hold true, there are many additional and sometimes less charming reasons to trigger a sale and purchase. So why could an owner benefit by selling this spring rather than later in the year?
 
Kyiv might be over 1300 miles from London, but what is going on there and the longer-term ramifications of the war with Russia mean the future is uncertain. Energy and food price rises mean we can’t predict the future cost of living, and escalating interest rates mean our mortgages will be higher, but by how much? The way we work is changing. Many employers are eager for workers to get back to the office, so the five-days-a-week work-from-home idyll isn’t as much a given as it was. Covid is still a worry.
 
So whichever way you cut it we are surrounded by uncertainty, and the property market like any other market hates uncertainty.
 
The only thing we do know is what is happening today. So, if you are sitting on the fence waiting for a sign, let this be the sign. You might not have anywhere to move to yet and, yes, currently there are few properties for sale. But that is because everyone else is sitting on the same fence. However, it’s incredible how things can open up once you have made the first move. One thing is certain though, nothing will ever open up unless you do make a move.
 
So, is spring 2022 an excellent time to sell? It is a brilliant time to sell. First, there are all the traditional reasons to sell at this time of year. But now we think this is probably the top of a bull market, and so do most other leading estate agents. Prices could fall back a little and there probably won’t be the buying frenzy we saw last year. There will be more property on the market with which to compete. If anything should get you off the fence it’s when all the selling stars are aligned - and they are now.
 
Old charts printed ‘Here be dragons’ in unexplored waters. In property if you want some certainty it’s often better not to chase dragons.