There was a time when there was such a thing as '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, the days are warmer and longer, and buyers often like to move in by the summer holidays or before the new school year starts. Yes, spring has always been a perfect time to enter the property market.
Nowadays however, there are many additional and sometimes less charming reasons to trigger a sale and purchase. So why is there no longer a perfect time of year to market your home?
Kyiv might be 1800 miles from Newcastle, 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 the given it was. Covid is still a worry. So 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, 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.
Will we see the buying frenzy of 2022 carry into 2023? Will you kick yourself if next year prices fall back slightly? Will you wish you had bitten the bullet and tested today’s top of a bull market? 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.
