I had a homeowner from Great Casterton email me the
other day. She had been following my blog www.rutlandandstamfordpropertyblog.co.uk for a while and wanted 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 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. At the moment, the latest
set of figures for all 20 estate agents in Stamford, show the average length of
time it takes to find a buyer for any Stamford property is as follows:-
Detached 130 days
Semi 88 days
Terraced 85 days
Flat 110 days
Overall average 109 days
In January 2016, the overall average time it took to find a buyer (again using data from all of the 20 Stamford Estate Agents) was 110 days.
So, on the face of
it, things haven’t changed much over the last 6 months or so. When I looked at
the data going back to 2009, a slightly different picture appeared…
Winter 2009 - 177 days Summer 2009 - 170 days
and in more recent times …
Winter 2013 - 140 days Summer 2013 - 134 days
Winter 2014 - 108 days Summer 2014 - 79 days
Winter 2015 - 93 days Summer 2015 - 92 days
Coming back to the
present, even if you placed your property on the market today in Stamford, if
it takes you on average a little over 15 weeks to find a buyer, then you can
expect solicitors and the chain to take an additional 8 - 12 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 ..
Spring: Customarily there are more house-buyers
as the Daffodils show themselves
Summer: Sellers may miss out on house-buyers
being on holidayAutumn: 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 Stamford, is do the
right thing for yourself, do your homework and buy (and sell) with both your
head as well as your heart
For more thoughts on the Stamford property market –
visit the Stamford Property Market Blog: www.rutlandandstamfordpropertyblog.co.uk
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