Article written and provided by Jo Eccles, Managing Director at Eccord, for Beacon Gainer, private wealth advisory services group.
Best in class properties remain in high demand and sealed bids are becoming common place.
The competition is fierce, particularly in areas of London which are controlled almost entirely by a small handful of agents such as Wimbledon Village, Little Venice and St Johns Wood.
In Wimbledon Village for example, sellers are able to dictate viewing days and times and because there is so much demand, they can afford to be very inflexible – which buyers must comply with to in order to view in the first place, not to mention get on side with the selling agent and seller.
Other areas of London such as Fulham, Chelsea and Knightsbridge are seeing more on market sales, but tact is essential for buyers trying to successfully negotiate a competitive outcome and avoid insulting sellers by being too bullish. We have seen many unrepresented buyers fall foul of this and, as a consequence, have to make amends with a higher offer than they might otherwise have needed to pay.
The activity we’re seeing is supported by the data. For example, Savills research has shown that March had the highest number of monthly transactions since the financial crisis, more than a decade ago. The only higher month since early 2007 was March 2016, when there was a rush by second home buyers to beat the introduction of the stamp duty increase that April.
Also, last month was the fifth biggest month for Stamp Duty receipts since 2003. Whilst some buyers are still cautious based on economic data, what’s making property buck the trend is the pent up demand from the past five years, plus the genuine needs and emotion that go into property purchase decisions.
