1
Jun
Can A Swallow Make A Summer?
Nick Churton of Mayfair Office offers a timely warning for those
playing the UK property market this spring.
"All over the UK the swallows have returned to liven up our
skies and line our overhead cables. At first there were just
one or two, then they arrived in their hundreds and then
thousands. They are a most welcome sight after a miserable
winter.
In the first months of this year we in the property world were also
eagerly looking out for other harbingers – house
buyers. After such a dreadful year for the housing market as
well as the economy generally in 2008, any sign of increased
activity was keenly anticipated.
Initially buyers arrived at our offices in very small numbers but
as April and May unrolled the numbers grew from a trickle to a
steady flow. One buyer certainly doesn’t make a market
recovery, but as the weeks have passed there have been sure signs
that things are really warming up.
It is also encouraging that this new activity is being played
across the entire property spectrum - spurred on by some
exceptional opportunities for homebuyers and property investors
alike. With interest rates at their lowest level ever, poor
returns on other forms of investments and a market that is reaching
the bottom of its cycle - if it hasn’t reached it already -
there is a fresh sense of urgency.
Up to now most of the vanguard buyers have been cash purchasers,
and while the banks and other lenders sort themselves out over the
coming months these will form by far the largest group of
buyers. But as the year wears on more mortgage money will
become available and, although we may see the traditional market
slowdown over the holiday months, I think we can safely predict,
for this year at least, that while one swallow may not make a
summer a few of them have certainly made for a very encouraging
spring."
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