I sometimes get
people who have been following my blog for a while, asking to pick my brain on
when is the best time of the year to sell a property. Trying to calculate the
best time to put your Loughborough property on the market can often seem
something akin to witchcraft and, whilst I would agree that there are particular
times of the year that can prove more productive than others, there are plenty
of factors that need to be taken into consideration.
Even if you are putting your property on the market,
you don’t know how long it will take to find a buyer - no crystal ball to help
with that one. At the moment, the latest set of figures for all 17 estate
agents in Loughborough, show the average length of time it takes to find a
buyer for any Loughborough property is as follows ..
Detached 99 days
Semi
82 days
Terraced 166 days
Flat 148 days
Overall average 114 days
If we roll the clock back to January 2016, the overall
average time it took to find a buyer (again using data from all of the 17 Loughborough
Estate Agents) was 159 days.
So, on the face of it, things have vastly improved
over the last six months or so. Well, when I looked at the data going back to
2009, and every Spring since then, the average length of time it takes to sell
a property drops between January and the Summer months, for it to rise on the
run up to Christmas. For example ..
Winter
2009 - 163 days Summer 2009 - 159 days
and in more recent times …
Winter 2013 - 170 days Summer
2013 - 154 days
Winter
2014 - 149 days Summer 2014 - 130 days
Winter
2015 - 148 days Summer 2015 - 136 days
Coming back to the present, even if you placed your
property on the market today in Loughborough, if it takes you on average a
little over sixteen weeks to find a buyer, then you can expect solicitors and
the chain to take an additional eight and twelve weeks after that, before you
move. It comes down to personal choice as to when you place your property on
the market. Children often affect the decision. On one
side you might delay putting that for sale board in your front garden so you
can move in the summer school holidays, but on the other side, you might want
to move sooner to be in the catchment area of a preferred school, in plenty of time for
the next academic year?
There are times
of the year when it's better to sell, and times when waiting a little longer
can pay off in the long run. In a nutshell, I would say this is the way of the
seasons ..
WHEN
THE MARKET?
Spring: Customarily there are more house-buyers as the
Daffodils show themselves
Summer: Sellers may miss out on house-buyers being on holiday
Autumn: The enthusiasm for buying homes returns
Winter: Interest diminishes as festive period looms
What this means to
buyers and landlord investors is that they often pick up a bargain in later months
of the year, as there is less competition from owner occupiers. So, whilst
there are better months to achieve a quicker sale, the only piece of advice I
can give to every home owner and
landlord in Loughborough, is do the right thing for yourself, do your homework
and buy (and sell) with both your head as well as your heart.
If you would like to discuss the Loughborough property market or chat about any potential investment please feel free to call me on 01509 260777 or email me james.loughborough@belvoir.co.uk
Comments
Post a Comment