As we reach the middle of July, the property market feels as though it is beginning to find a slightly better balance.
One of the biggest challenges throughout the spring was simply the amount of property coming to market. Supply increased significantly while buyer demand struggled to keep pace, leaving buyers with an enormous amount of choice and sellers facing considerably more competition.
July feels different.
Fewer new properties are coming to market, which is fairly typical as we move into the summer months, and in the current market I actually think that slowdown is healthy.
Many of the properties that launched during the spring and remain unsold have now adjusted their asking prices. That means new sellers coming to market are no longer pricing themselves against an inflated marketplace. Instead, they are looking at properties that have already been tested by buyers and, in many cases, repositioned accordingly.
The result is that I am seeing some genuinely competitive new guide prices.
That doesn’t necessarily mean houses are suddenly cheap. It means sellers and agents are having to be realistic about what buyers are prepared to pay, and that is ultimately what creates transactions.
I experienced a perfect example of this myself in July.
One of our agreed sales unfortunately fell through. It is one of the most frustrating parts of the property market in England and Wales and, until we see meaningful reform of what is still an incredibly archaic buying and selling process, fall throughs will continue to be part of the job.
But within three days, we had resold the property for the full asking price and managed to put the chain back together.
I was incredibly proud of that.
It was also a useful reminder that, despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the property market, correctly priced homes are still selling and committed buyers are still out there.
The wider picture remains unpredictable.
The relative calm we saw in June has unfortunately been interrupted by renewed tensions between the US and Iran, with the previous ceasefire faltering and uncertainty returning to global energy markets. That has already created some volatility around oil and borrowing costs, reminding us just how quickly the economic picture can change.
So we are certainly not out of the woods.
But I do think there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
Buyers seem increasingly aware that waiting indefinitely for the perfect economic conditions may mean waiting forever. Sellers, meanwhile, are becoming more realistic about pricing after seeing what has and hasn’t worked during the first half of the year.
Those two things coming together should create transactions.
From my own perspective, I am still absolutely loving the journey of building Charlie Carroll Property. I have met some wonderful people, represented some fantastic clients and been invited into some truly special homes over the last few months.
I also have a feeling that this summer could be busier than we would ordinarily expect.
There are transactions that perhaps didn’t quite get off the ground during the spring. There are buyers who have been waiting for more certainty. And there are sellers who have now adjusted their expectations to reflect the market we are actually in rather than the market they hoped we might have.
Put all of that together and there is plenty of opportunity.
The market isn’t booming, and I don’t think pretending otherwise helps anybody. But it is moving.
And right now, after everything the property market has thrown at us this year, I’ll happily take that.
