We’ve had a good run so far this year and while we have a record number of buyers on our books there simply isn’t the supply of properties that we would expect.

The traditional complaint heard from those looking to buy good quality village and rural property in South Wiltshire and North Dorset is that there is nothing around. This is why our books are normally crammed with ready and often desperate buyers who will jump at the first sign of an attractive period house. This year it is even worse though and there is no rhyme or reason for it.

We would have expected the decisive Election result to pave the way for greater confidence and while it has done so in terms of buyer sentiment, people just aren’t putting their properties on the market. Whether it is an anomaly and the Autumn market will produce greater volume, one doesn’t know.

One reason is often that owners want to find something to move to before doing so, but this leads to a classic catch 22 because if there is nothing to market then there is nothing to view. Their concern may be that they will be put under pressure to move, but the owner of a good house should always be in the driving seat in a strong market. They may also not want to have scores of viewers disrupting their lives until absolutely necessary, which is understandable, but a simple solution is for an agent to market quietly to a select number of able and flexible buyers.

The property market is a funny beast and because it is regionalised it is never an easy one to call. There are no local concerns to influence decisions and no wider economic problems to rock the boat (although Europe is bubbling), so what is happening at the moment is mystifying. We can only hope that once the holidays are over there will be some fresh impetus and demand can be satisfied…as much as it ever is.

To misquote Albert Arkwright in Open All Hours, so far it’s been a funny old year. Speaking to property buyers, sellers and agents up and down the country, broadly speaking, most seem to share our experience of the housing market over the course of the first half of 2015 in that it’s been something of a mixed bag.

We at Rural View were busy with viewing appointments right from the start of the year, even back in January and February when the housing market is usually in a state of hibernation. The spring and early summer months saw our diaries particularly full with appointments although lately this has been a little more erratic with some days being fairly quiet whilst with others it has been a job to fit in all the viewing requests.

However, rather than viewing numbers, what is more relevant to the agent and their vendor clients is whether they generate offers and subsequently; sales. Depending on prevailing market conditions, the desirability of the individual property and its pricing policy, one would normally expect around 8-10 viewings to generate an offer. This statistic certainly did not apply in the early part of the year and up until May as despite all the viewing activity, buyers appeared reluctant to commit to making purchases. Since then it has been a different story and the last two months has seen a marked increase in the number of offers being made and accepted.

It is perhaps a little too easy to explain the pattern of house buyer behaviour so far in 2015 as being down to the political uncertainty in the lead up to the general election and it’s outcome as there was plenty going on prior to the 7th May. It does appear however, that the election did play its part in influencing prospective purchasers’ decision making but there are other factors as well. These include simply the time of year with the late spring/early summer period traditionally being one of the most active periods, a hint of an easing of the stringent mortgage lending restrictions and the general vagary of the ebb and flow of market activity which defies logic and analysis.

The other side of the demand for property coin is of course supply. Other than a number of homes that had been ‘rested’ over the winter becoming available again, there was the usual slow start to the year for new properties being put up for sale followed by a flurry of new instructions in April and May. June in contrast has seen a shortage of homes coming to the market even though there are a good number of motivated buyers actively house hunting.

Normally a favourite newspaper and dinner party topic, there has been little to talk about regarding house prices so far this year mainly because they have remained pretty stable.

So what of the remaining six months of 2015? All I can say is that the housing market will continue to be predictably unpredictable and that sellers of sensibly priced and proactively marketed homes in the best locations will, as ever, be sure of attracting good interest.

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