In the last few weeks the second phase of the Help to Buy scheme has been launched, three months ahead of schedule and taking even Lenders by surprise. For those still not sure what this scheme entails, it is a Government guarantee to the lender of up to 15% of a property purchase, allowing a buyer, as long as they meet the lending criteria, to raise a 95% mortgage. It is available for purchases up to £600,000 and restricted to owner occupiers.
This scheme is controversial, mainly because it is a manufactured crutch to a property market that is no longer limping.  . We are just coming out of the worst sustained period of activity in generations, and are witnessing a gentle and manageable market-led recovery, but purely for the sake of political timing during conference season, so the argument goes, the coalition has decided to provide direct assistance to encourage buyers even further. The worry for many is that in delivering this stimulus the Government has crossed the Rubicon from assistive enablers to direct meddlers in what is an unforgiving market.
The general cry is that control needs to be established by Government, the Bank of England and through Lenders’ self-regulation in order for demand not to get too carried away. Likely? We can only wait and see, but judging by recent brush-offs the coalition isn’t particularly worried about countering the monster that some fear it might have created .
The initial equity based assistance has proved to be a great stimulus across the UK at the lower end of the market, but whether Help to Buy will impact on our local market remains to be seen and it will be difficult to separate the impact of this initiative from a general improvement in market conditions unless, of course, it becomes evident from property professionals that there has been a huge uptake.
The main point to be made is that a healthy property market is one of sustained activity rather than surging prices and as long as there is a decent supply of available stock this should prevail over the sort of inflation that we saw in the pre-crunch days.
Whatever happens, Help to Buy is here for the next few years and at least it is a positive move, which after recent times is a welcome gesture.

With a name like Rural View you may think that we deal only with properties that have just that: panoramic views of chalk down land or Dorset combes. If only we did! Views are very popular and one’s heart often sinks when, as happens frequently, a prospective buyer lists a good view as their ‘absolute must have’.

Despite the fact that we live in a glorious part of the country with stunning, bucolic scenery many houses simply don’t benefit from such an outlook. We sell many fantastic properties in their own right, they may have lovely gardens and they may be in great locations, but they will not necessarily tick the box of the ‘view-searcher’.

So what is a good view worth to a house? The answer is that it varies wildly. Views come in many guises and some are often affected by blemishes which will make them marginal in terms of gain. One also has to remember that views can change so while South Wilts/North Dorset is largely protected from significant developments, especially in the AONB, smaller builds may still have an impact.

The other obvious is that an elevated view, especially to the south west normally brings the weather with it and you would be unlikely to escape the worst of the winds. This apart, however, there is little substitute for a far reaching view on a hazy summer’s day, or relaxing in your garden to the scene of a spectacular sunset, and this is what the ‘view-searcher’ dreams of.

I have known people pay significant premiums for a good house married to a good view but only because it ticks all the boxes. In general, any increase in value is more a reflection of overall environment, rather than the view itself, but it can be the icing on the cake and it will make the difference for many.

Now that the holidays are over and our children are being dragged back to school, it is the natural time for people to think again of moving house, with Christmas as the end goal. For this reason we’ve seen increased demand for rural family houses.

Late Summer/early Autumn is a traditional time of year for property transactions to pick up and due to a busy few months of sales, supply is now fairly thin on the ground. We have maintained a steady register of keen buyers, however, and there will be more getting in touch over the coming weeks.

So what are these buyers looking for? The most keenly sought after type of property is the 4 or 5 bedroom family house, situated in a rural or village environment. If, for instance a property of this ilk became available in the general area between Salisbury and Shaftesbury, we know that it would generate huge interest and possibly competitive bidding. We know because we are speaking daily to frustrated buyers and this is indicative of the strength of the middle market in South Wilts/North Dorset.

Both London and the Home Counties are producing the majority of incomers, escaping small gardens in the Capital and increasing traffic elsewhere. Good schools, beautiful countryside and a fantastic quality of life is the draw, not to mention the significant differential in property values.

There are also those who need to upsize locally; whose children have outgrown smaller cottages and now need the space, both inside and out, to spread. Improved communications and hence income have meant that these buyers are not necessarily priced out of the market, but budgets may be under more pressure and they are generally more reliant on borrowing.

The one thing that is certain is that there will not be a meaningful increase in the number of larger new build homes around here and in any case, most buyers are after individual properties at this level, putting a further emphasis on supply.

So if you are considering selling a family sized house you will need to have good advice from an Agent who really deals in this market, and if you are hoping to buy one, you will need to be prepared for battle.

While there is no particular pattern in the Wiltshire housing market at the moment we are happily seeing signs of more confidence from buyers and activity is on the up. One is always hesitant to herald the recovery, and it is likely that this is the end of the beginning, rather than the beginning of the end, but at last we may be witnessing some green shoots.

The first four months of 2013 were pretty dire in terms of rural housing stock and activity, but as soon as the weather warmed, so did the market. Anyone who keeps an eye on the property portals will see the increase in sales agreed and this is an exciting indication that lenders are lending, buyers are buying and prices are holding their own.

How should buyers view the market now and where should they be pitching offers?

The first thing to say is that prices are not rocketing away and are not likely to for the foreseeable future. But the market is firming, which means that vendors need not take as much of a hit on their sales as they have had to. To give an indication, the average offer that we have agreed on all sales since the beginning of June is only 1.8 % below guide price, while this time last year it was more like 5%.
As long as a property is pitched in line with its comparables, it is likely to sell reasonably well and buyers need to understand that we are now entering a more equitable market where deals are being struck at sensible levels.

You could almost say that the end of the buyers’ market is nigh. It certainly is for family houses in good locations, where the excellent schools in this area are attracting more and more families from London and the Home Counties, all vying for elusive property.

If you are a buyer, therefore, perhaps you should remember these points:

Do your property homework – you should know what sort of property you can buy for your money and be able to put a broad value on what you see.
Be decisive – if a house ticks 7 boxes out of 10, you should be thinking seriously about it.
Be realistic – don’t expect to buy too far below the guide price.
Be confident – that you are buying at the bottom of the market.

One of the most frustrating and emotive things about moving house is that both buyer and seller can pull out of the deal at any time. There are normally perfectly reasonable explanations, but the retraction can cause a huge amount of distress to the other party, not to mention the incurred costs.

The legal process of selling and buying property

The legal process of transferring property from one owner to another in England is, let’s face it, protracted and fragile, and agreements are not binding until contracts are exchanged. Of course there are many and varied reasons why property transactions fail to complete, but the point is that it can take weeks, if not months, of anguish and stress before there is total commitment to the transaction. So why can’t there be certainty from, or soon after acceptance of the offer? It would make the whole house moving process so much more straightforward and would certainly help to ease our stress levels.

In Scotland the whole process is very different, where pre-offer investigations into a property are the norm, so that when the offer is accepted it is binding. This, however, means that buyers spend out a fair amount before certainty and because the bidding is normally blind they have no idea whether they will be successful or not.

Pre-contract deposits when selling property

What about a pre-contract deposit? Sadly, any Solicitor will tell you that they are not worth the salt and have to be refundable since they cannot be unconditional.

The Government did attempt to speed up the conveyancing process with the Home Information Pack, which in itself was not a bad idea, but its implementation was flawed as it emerged that buyers did not trust the vendor-commissioned surveys and their solicitors did not trust the local searches. It also reined back a free flow of stock to the market due to the up-front costs.

What is the answer, therefore? Whatever it is it won’t be simple and certainly won’t be decisive. A middle ground is to ensure that the possibility of the parties pulling out are minimised through speed of transaction. Transparency about a property is key to this. Making pre-offer information available via the Agents should be strongly encouraged, as should perhaps a scheme for buyers’ contributions to vendor-commissioned surveys, not only acting as a form of deposit, but also freeing the surveyor to act in an unbiased fashion for all parties who contribute. Maybe RICS should be considering this? The Government could also invest in more Council staff and technology to cut the waiting time for searches from several weeks to several days, rather than concentrating on purchase- assistance schemes (controversial!).

Put simply, a pre-offer preparation of the survey and draft contract, combined with speedy local search results could and should cut the whole process to 10 working days. The likelihood of either party withdrawing would then be cut dramatically and a fast exchange of contracts would provide certainty. We can dream, but surely it can’t be that hard!