If you are selling your home in Petersfield, it is important that you pay attention to what is happening with respect to buyers. It can be easy to become fixated on your own situation and needs, but a vendor is reliant on buyers showing an interest in their home.
If there isn’t a willing buyer, vendors can’t sell, so anything which helps to persuade more buyers to engage the property market has to be considered a positive step for vendors. The positive news for homeowners comes from UK Finance, who stated that the number of mortgages approved for house purchase in December of 2018 stood at 25,145. This was an increase of 5.2% on the December of 2017 market.
There was a fall in the remortgage market, which meant that the overall mood for lenders wasn’t too buoyant but when it comes to willing buyers, the figures were on the up and this is great news for buyers and vendors.
The market is still thriving and mortgage applications are still being made
The gross mortgage lending in the residential market in 2018 stood at £267.5bn, which was a 3.8% increase on the 2017 figure. The gross mortgage lending sum for December of 2018 was £21.1bn, a figure which was an increase of 4.7% on the December of 2017 figures.
With many people struggling to find positivity in the property market, it is good to find figures that suggest buyers are still engaging the market and looking to arrange property purchases.
Richard Pike is the Sales and Marketing Director for Phoebus Software and he released a statement about these figures, saying; “It is hard to talk about anything at the moment without mentioning the ‘Brexit’ word: it is all-consuming and there is little doubt that it continues to affect the housing market. The fact that house purchase approvals were up in December suggests that people are planning ahead and making their move before the March deadline. Interestingly the number of remortgage approvals took a dip compared to the same month in 2017, which bucks the trend throughout the rest of the year. Nonetheless, I would expect it to be the remortgage sector that will be keeping the mortgage market going in the coming months, as we wait to see how our exit from the EU pans out.”
Brexit is an issue to consider but only one aspect impacting on the property market
There is no denying that Brexit is influencing many people’s actions but there will be people keen to move now or very soon because they fear the situation will be even worse after Brexit.
Jeremy Leaf is a former chair of RICS and he said; “These figures show that sales are still happening, where buyers and sellers are taking a longer-term view, prompted perhaps by the need to live near schools, work, or downsize. Negotiations can be tough but more successful when the parties concentrate on the difference between the buying and selling price – not the headline figure. In the past few weeks we have noticed supply shortages, improving affordability and very low unemployment, and mortgage rates are proving more relevant to buyers and sellers than political uncertainty, so believe a sharp market correction is unlikely.”
If you’re a Petersfield vendor, buyers are available, but you need to be ready to appeal to these buyers and make sure your home is promoted to them properly. Any homeowner looking for support in reaching Petersfield buyers will find that Williams of Petersfield is the ideal choice, so get in touch.