Return to an orderly market

It’s being suggested that the residential property market will settle at around the 2019 levels when it comes to activity.

Whether, or not, that’s a good thing remains to be seen. After all, 2019 was the year of ongoing Brexit debate, acrimonious swaps of UK premiership, proroguing of Parliament, and the last general election.

Four years on from there the details of Brexit are still being hammered out and we’ve got through two more prime ministers, the last one leaving an unwanted legacy in the money markets after running too fast with tax cut plans.

However, despite another interest rate rise today by 0.5 per cent, taking Bank of England Base Rate to its highest since 2008 at 4.0 per cent, the news on interest rates is brighter. The Bank is also hoping that inflation rates will halve as a result of its fiscal policy – it’s the Bank that drives inflation policy rather than the Government - and they are certainly nowhere near as alarming as was being predicted last October after the Truss/Kwarteng mini budget.

It’s actually difficult to remember just what 2019 was like after the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 and the frantic breakout into the market by homeowners that only subsided last year as people decided they had generally arrived at where lockdown cabin fever had suggested would be their new Utopia.

So this year will see a full 12 months of people moving for the old reasons of job / school / lifestyle changes, normally in that order instead of being led by lifestyle.

If that’s what’s meant by a return to the 2019 market, then we’re all for it at Randalls Residential. The sight of buyers climbing over each other in a desperate bid to be the successful one was a bit like watching the doors open on a bricks and mortar jumble sale. What we want is a year of transactions driven by the traditional choices in a polite way with rational decisions. If that happens, everyone involved should come away happy and without the buyer’s remorse that’s now afflicting some who moved hastily and paid way too much as lockdown ended.

For more information, contact Randalls Residential Estate Agents in Basingstoke on 01256 345635.