Room for optimism for the property market in 2024!

There has probably never been a better time to understand just why you need an estate agent when you sell your home.

The tough times in the mortgage market have meant that keeping sales chains alive requires inventive thinking and hard negotiating. That, of course, is what estate agents do apart from the obvious things such as appraising properties and advising the best way to market them.

Interest rate rises that saw Bank of England Base Rate rise to 5.25 per cent have played havoc in the mortgage market and that has both affected buyer ambitions and transactions already in place where either the borrower or the lender has had second thoughts about the economics of a deal.

At times this can be fixed by an active estate agent contacting all the buyers and sellers in a chain and negotiating new prices that see everyone still complete their transaction but maybe at lesser prices than they anticipated at the outset. If everyone adapts to the same degree then there’s no real harm done.

The biggest losses in house prices themselves have actually been a reflection of market adjustment following the full-on feeding frenzy that came with the post-Covid Stamp Duty holiday where buyers made crazy offers as they out-bid others to get the properties they wanted.

Values from before the Covid crisis have not suffered and although year-on-year values remain suppressed, for the third month in a row there has been a month-on-month rise in values. This, coupled with a steadying of the mortgage market and even reductions already in interest rates from some lenders as Base Rate holds firm might help bring some market stability for the start of 2024.

Certainly there’s room for a degree of optimism. Budgets can now be fixed with some certainty that rates won‘t rise and that’s what the market’s been waiting for. That and, of course, your property coming onto the market!

To find out how much your home in Basingstoke or the surrounding villages might now be worth try Randalls Residential Estate Agents in Basingstoke free online valuation FREE INSTANT ONLINE VALUATION 

Alternatively give Simon or Ben at Randalls Residential Estate Agents in Basingstoke a call on 01256 345635 or email [email protected].