Is now a good time to buy or sell a home?

Is now a good time to buy or sell a home?

If you are buying and selling a home, the ideal market is really one which is falling for a short period of time. This means you may sell the property you own for less, but you should save more on the one you purchase, so you benefit financially.

Typically though, for anyone buying or selling, it doesn't really matter too much what's happening market wise. When prices are going up, it's easier to sell your property and although you may have to pay out more for the larger property you are buying, you still get to move and over the long term, will benefit as prices rise. If prices are falling you also do well as you sell your property for 10% less than it was previously worth, for example a £150,000 home sells now for £135,000.


FOLLOW THIS LINK to decide whether now is a good time to buy and sell!

For Sale and Sold Boards

How to find out what's happening in your local property market

When you want to have a good idea of what's happening in your local market, as long as there are no restrictions in your area, working out how many properties are for sale and sold, and comparing this to historic data can really help.

Counting boards is something which agents often use to measure their own local market share. However it's an incredibly useful way of working out whether it's going to be easy or difficult to buy or sell a property in your market. 


READ MORE for Three steps to work out if it will be easy or difficult to buy or sell a property

First Time Buyers Market Report and Analysis

First Time Buyers' Market Report and Analysis

The ideal market for a first time buyer is one which is actually gently rising. This means you purchase a property and then watch the value of your home increase year on year. For the full market update, visit the Designs on Property website.

The summary of the current and future market is one where prices are doing the opposite, ie likely to fall over the coming months. There are some areas though, which are hotter spots than the norm especially in inner London, so it is vital to work out what's happening to property prices in your local area. Visit How to check out the local property market and What to ask the agents to better understand the local market for more help.


FOLLOW THIS LINK for the full First Time Buyers Report

Future Property Market Analysis

Is the Property Market driving the recession or will the recession drive prices down further?

The property market to date ‘on average' has pretty much been in the doldrums. Visit our market reports for Past and Current Property Prices. To date, we've seen a 20% fall in property prices and a 50% fall in volume since the credit crunch. The market itself has pulled back on average price wise to around 10% below the heights of 2007. Sales volumes though remain very low compared to pre credit crunch norms and research and data so far shows no signs of the market recovering, even in areas where property prices are performing well.

Much of what happens to the market for the rest of 2012 will depend on how confident people are to buy a property. This confidence will depend on figures from the media which will include unemployment levels, inflation, what is likely to happen to wages and especially what happens on the mortgage front as well as how they report the property market.


READ MORE for Future Property Market Predictions

Current Property Market Analysis

Is now the time to sell your home?

We know from our ‘past property market' analysis that prices over the last few years have hardly fluctuated at all. However, the current market shows prices are softening slightly month on month at the moment, suggesting 2012 is likely to be a quieter year than 2011.

So far we have seen a boost to the year's activities as first time buyers have rushed to purchase properties to avoid paying Stamp Duty between £125,000 and £250,000. We also saw a ‘shock' to London's sales for the first time, as the surprise 7% Stamp Duty for properties over £2 million and for those buying through overseas companies, rush property purchases through to avoid paying tens of thousands of extra tax on property.


READ MORE for the full Current Property Market Analysis

Economy Follows Property Prices into a Double Dip

Economy Follows Property Prices into a Double Dip


Month by month we hear from lots of different property price reports, some saying prices are rising, some falling. For anyone who's a first time buyer, looking to trade down or invest in property, conflicting headlines are confusing and generate additional stress at a time when there is already plenty to worry about.

This property price report is unique in that it reviews all the different property price reports from the prospective of someone carrying out a property project, giving advice to help work out, from a market perspective, whether now is a good time to buy, sell, build, invest or even carry out a renovation project. 

READ HERE For my full Past Property Price market analysis

Should First Time Buyers Take the Plunge in 2012?

First Time Buyers Home 2012

Many first time buyers feel they will never be able to get into the property market, particularly those in London and other expensive areas, where affordability is a very real issue. So should first time buyers be thinking very seriously of making 2012 the year to take the plunge and buy?

READ ON to find out.