With last week's Budget announcement about the amendment to Stamp Duty for first time buyers up to the £300,000 mark there was an unusual positive surrounding the housing market.
Sadly in the latter part of this year there seems to have been a lot of pessimism in general, and a lot of people appear to hold off moving, although what they are holding off for, and how long this will be, is unknown.
At some point the corner will turn, and the market will improve. But Stamp Duty or not, that isn't now likely to be until January given the seasonal slowdown towards Christmas.
A small positive on Stamp Duty should be applauded, but there were still some negative comments about it therefore pushing house prices up, largely from those that can't afford to buy a house of course.
In my opinion this is unlikely to be a direct influence as no vendor should suddenly decide to add another 10-20k to their asking price if they expect anything other than disappointment, but if demand suddenly improves as a result, then I suppose it could lead to Open Days and bidding wars which were very regular in the first quarter of 2017, but haven't been heard of since.
So what is the latest in Welling?
Well, first and foremost, there is hardly anything available! This makes it even more surprising that what is on the market isn't moving, and so many properties across the board need to bed reduced in price before they finally sell, or the owner gives up and withdraws it until next year.
In the month of October there were only 59 new properties put on the market in Welling, DA16. The lowest all year. You would generally expect that with less properties available, there would be greater competition amongst those that are, but as buyer numbers are also down, it all balances out.
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| Despite a lack of supply in DA16, the market is still tough. Figures, Rightmove, October 2017 |
And in September there were only 61 new properties, as opposed to 80 odd in August.
Less houses for people to buy, means less motivation to flat owners to put their property on the market in order to upsize, and as a result, amongst those 59 and 61 properties in the last two months, only 15 of them were flats (only 12 if taking out retirement flats).
In short, if you are looking to buy a flat at the moment, good luck! Slim pickings.
And that is why the negativity from some over the Stamp Duty amendment is even more baffling. Because at the moment you can get a "bargain".
Whereas at the start of the year people were getting in to bidding wars and having to offer asking price, or even above, to secure the property they wanted, now you can make an offer 5/10/15k below asking price and have a pretty good chance of it being accepted.
So if you are a first time buyer, moving from flat to house, upsizing from two bed to four bed, then all of the signs remain positive. There isn't much choice, but it makes sense to make the move. The only people it seems better to hold off for are the downsizers.
If you feel like moving, or need to move, my suggestion would be that you still do so and take advantage. And if you are a vendor, remember, what you get for your property on its own is an irrelevance if you are then buying another, its one figure in relation to the other that really matters.
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