This is the time of year when property instructions tend to drop off, agents’ listings start to empty and ready purchasers feel ever more frustrated. There has been a distinct lack of available property this year, especially since the Brexit vote and there are an awful lot of buyers who have secured sales earlier in the year, but can’t find their next move.
Market conditions apart, however, November through to March are often seen as the quiet months of the year for the property market. There is no particular rationale for this, given the unbroken demand from buyers, but grey skies, bare trees and bracing winds will invariably influence the actions of those who are planning to sell. Unless you have to, why not wait until the spring?
The property market, though, does soldier on. Under some circumstances there is little choice as to when to sell a property so these are the houses that come to the market, but it can also be a perfect time of year to quietly float a marketing campaign without full exposure. There is no measurement of how many deals are softly concluded in this way; the majority will be at the top end of the market, but in the middle market we are certainly no strangers to arranging a deal from the bottom drawer. Indeed, this winter we have been instructed to quietly promote a number of houses, without open marketing, but simply by offering them to those buyers who we know would be interested.
Success in these sales ultimately relies on the buyer. If they are motivated enough to register with us then they will be in the frame to receive confidential information; if not then how will they ever know? We are fortunate enough to be well known for covering the Salisbury valleys to the west, as well as further afield, so keen buyers will invariably get in touch with us and our register is currently splitting at the seams – which makes selling property under the covers so much more straightforward. No advertising, no property portals and little fuss.
We don’t have a crystal ball and 2017 will no doubt be a hesitant year, but at least we know that vendors are speaking to us about marketing their properties either quietly now, or openly in the spring and with the buyers that we have on our books our market must remain resilient.