Housing Market in January - UPDATE

Jan. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- Well, the New Year is but a few days old and we are extremely busy. I was confident that January would start well, but my expectations have been surpassed.

Whilst the press continue their focus on unearthing any negative tit bit which supports their decade long prophecy that the Housing Market will imminently collapse, those who really count - we call them buyers - have other ideas. I can't speak for those in other parts of the country, but here in London, things are looking bright. Obviously miffed that prices didn't fall in 2010, the BBC now has an article on their website asking whether there will be a drop in 2011. They state "Expert commentators are divided about whether house prices will fall further, stabilise or even rise during the coming 12 months." There is a good reason for this division. They a) don't know and b) cant apply one figure to the whole country which has such extreme regional variations.

As the Olympics approach and regeneration of East London gathers pace, does anyone really believe prices there will fall by the same rate predicted in, say, the North East? Why then, does no one comment upon this and instead offer meaningless averages? The answer is that it makes good headlines.

We started the year with 40% more properties under offer than at the start of 2010. Our first sale came on the day we returned to work and was swiftly followed by our first exchange of contracts once our friends in the legal profession had ceased their festive hibernation.

December was particularly difficult as Christmas fell on dates which resulted a longer than usual break. This was compounded by the avalanche which brought London and indeed the country to a standstill. Nevertheless, we pretty much achieved our targets despite the month being effectively reduced to little over two weeks.

Demand is now strong and we agents will resume our battle for market share in both sales and lettings as instruction levels are frankly insufficient to meet demand. I am not an economist, but I know the effect that lack of supply has on prices. This simple fact is already influencing sales and lettings.

I have also read reports that demand for home loans is expected to fall. Perhaps, but our Mortgage page has received its highest level of traffic in the last 4 days than at any time since it went live. Odd that.

Prices may rise a percent or two, they may fall by the same margin - ultimately, it makes no difference to those not thinking of moving within the next couple of years. Interest rates remain low, mortgages remain affordable, there is no shortage of buyers - so why worry about what may happen in 6 months - grab this opportunity by the scruff of the neck and act now.

Agents don't spend money trying to secure new stock, recruit staff to sell and rent, splash out on advertising and marketing to simply have properties stagnating. No, we do it because there is a demand and we have buyers and tenants asking us to find them somewhere to live and, because we need to make a profit now that banks have abolished overdrafts. Recession has instilled discipline and agents will not waste money.

We don't deal in if's and maybe's. We aren't fixated with what happened in Q3 of 2010. We need to meet customer demand NOW and so far, so good.

Finally, in a couple of months, there will be reports that December sales figures were at an all time low. The press will blame the economy, the opposition will blame the coalition, the coalition will blame the banks. I suspect few will blame the real culprit. An excessively White Christmas.

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Bushells is one of London's leading Estate Agents. Founded in 1937, we are one of the most successful estate agents in London. We are members of all recognised industry bodies including ARLA, TPO and NAEA.