To sell or not to sell..?

Before putting your property up for sale you want to ask: Is now a good time to sell my house? This is because it’s not easy to tell whether it’s a good time to sell your property. You must consider many considerations like the you’re the location of your property, financial strength, rising home prices, personal circumstances, rising interest rates and the state of the market in terms of demand and supply among other factors to bear in mind.

The answer to this question will differ for everyone. Here’s all you must know to make an informed decision:

Is now a good time to sell my house?

Unfortunately, there’s no simple yes or no answer. To answer this question, you must assess your motivation for selling your house against your options. Looking at past trends, the best time to sell your house is during summer and spring. However, there are other factors beyond seasonality that you can’t ignore. However, most professionals within the real estate industry will tell you now is a good time to sell.

So how do you tell now is a good time to sell?

If you’re looking forward to a reasonable return on your property, now is a good time to sell your house particularly if you’re not keen on buying another property. This may include cases where you want to move into a rental property, you want to dispose of the property of a deceased relative or are moving in with your partner.

Stakeholders within the property market agree that the uncertain economic climate is a sign of the housing market being at crossroads. The average house price in the UK has been on the rise with a record high at £289,099 in May going by analysis by Halifax. This should not turn you off because the market has shown signs of cooling. The analysis also shows an increase in the value of property by £2,857. This is linked to the imbalance in demand and supply.

The sustained buyer demand and a shortage of housing inventory fuels the property market. You can take advantage of a higher demand to sell you home at a good price especially where bidding wars are common. Rising mortgage rates also serves as an indication why you should sell your home now.

Several other factors will determine whether now is the best time to sell your house. They include the following:

Supply and demand

It’s critical for you to get a good grasp of the interplay between the forces of demand and supply. When the market is hot, there’s more competition. Conversely, a housing inventory shortage will drive up prices and demand for properties that are available. When the supply is low, properties on the market will sell faster.

Low interest rates

When interest rates are low, more prospective buyers flood the market. This is an advantage for sellers as this results in bidding wars thus driving up the prices of properties. This means you can sell your home for a profit.

Downsizing

If you have a large home, you may want to sell it to buy a more budget friendly house. In such a case now is the best time to sell your house rather than having to deal with too many repairs and other costs related to house maintenance.

Relocating

If you’re relocating to another state for work or you simply want to live in another area selling now is inevitable. In this case, you need to sell because you must sell. If anything, it’s much easier to sell when you already have somewhere to go.

Now that you know the key pointers to look at to determine whether now is the best time to sell you might still want to ask, how do I know now is the time to sell my house? The truth is it can be quite tricky when relocating. So, you may want to push a little by doing the following:

Run a buyer search on the property portal to have an idea of the competition your property will face.

Speak to your estate agent about what is on their books and whether similar properties are selling during this period.

Look through housing market reports.

Speak to your estate agent about the average sale time in your area.

Check with your estate agent if they have any hot (these are buyers who are organised and are ready to move) buyers list.

Is now a good time to buy a house?

The answer to this question depends on two things; do you have a property you need to sell first or are you a first-time buyer? Higher market prices are an advantage especially if your goal is to downsize.

On the contrary this can be tricky if your aim is to move into an expensive or larger house. Going by predictions from experts, we are likely to see a situation where people hold their homes tightly and remove it them because of challenges in securing larger mortgages.

This is partly because most households have been hit by a fall in income and the high inflation rate doesn’t make it better. What this means is that fewer people can afford borrowing money at higher mortgages rates.

Another factor for consideration is the location where you moving to and from. Ultimately, higher prices make for bad news if you’re buying property for the first time. According to Halifax, the past ten years have seen a 74% rise in the coast of a home. This is equivalent to or £123,016.

If you’re keen on crunching the numbers, you need about £247,638 more for the house in London than you would 10 years ago. Similarly, if you’re in East England and East Midlands, you’ll need £153,930 and £108,116 more, respectively.

This price inflation was much higher in Northern Ireland in May where prices went up by 15.2%. In Southwest England, there was a strong annual growth rate at 14.5%. In Wales, there was a 13.7% increase in the prices bringing the average house prices to £216,120. The only places with less than 10% inflation rate in May were London, Scotland, and Humber. According to HALIFAX, the house price in Scotland is seen as underperforming compared to the UK average at an annual inflation rate of 8.3%.

Overall, there’s enough evidence linking price growth to the continued uncertainty within the economy. If you’re a first-time house buyer, you might experience a delay in making an entry into the housing market because of the interplay of rising house prices, fewer people with the appropriate debt to income ration qualifying them for a mortgage and lower disposable incomes.