Housing market: seasonal dip or slowdown?

As sure as eggs is eggs, the property market will have slowed down in July and August before picking up again in September. However, anyone sitting on the sidelines waiting for prices to crash is barking up the wrong tree. We still have a massive shortage of houses meaning demand outstrips supply and this is being felt even more by renters, with buying a house still the cheaper option for most. There are early signs, however, that we aren't going to see double digit percent growth anymore, which isn't a bad thing. People are a bit more cautious about budgets and rates have made mortgages more expensive but we will still see house price growth at a more steady pace.

Right now it certainly doesn’t feel like we’re in the typical summer holiday slump, nor does it feel like we are in a cost of living crisis or having mortgage rates on the rise. Whatever is happening is not representative of previous markets and seasonal peaks and troughs. Without providing any stats from someone who doesn’t go on annual leave during the six week summer holiday, I have been busier than any summer in memory. Although while writing this, I have had an email from a client postponing my appointment for photographs due to increased mortgage repayments. Watch this space…

Naturally, with the holiday season and children off school, August is a quieter month for people buying houses as their time is occupied in other ways rather than scrolling the property portals for a new home. We shouldn't use this as an indication that the housing market will implode. Once the schools are back, it's typically all systems go with people looking to secure properties, with a view to complete before the end of 2022. Therefore, until September's and October's data is available, it will be hard to indicate anything other than business as usual for house hunters.

Let's be honest: are there any true trends going on at the moment with so many curveballs over the past few years? Surprisingly many people are going on foreign holidays but this could be down to the delays in completions throughout the property market. Clients are getting very frustrated with how long the process is taking. Under-hand tactics such gazundering are rife and no one is regulating this causing stress sellers scraping round for more money to complete on their next purchase. I expect to see house prices settle and flatten slightly following two years of huge increases. Vast amount of existing clients are contacting us due to the speculation around spiralling inflation and higher interest rates so we're frantically trying to secure our clients a deal six months before the end of their fixed rate. The postitive news is that lenders are still lending and rates are still affordable so now is the time to review your mortgage.

I am still swimming upstream like a beautiful, albeit bearded, salmon, with a nice amount of purchases and remortgages going on. Yes, August seasonally has a dip due to holidays but with the enquiries I am getting, I can still see a good level of demand out there. If your time to move or purchase is now, then it is your time. There will always be interest rate changes, house price changes and cost of living challenges, but if you have the desire to move and the means, then you will.

It's hard to say whether this is the start of a prolonged downturn in the property market as the summer holidays are always, alongside December, some of the quietest months of the year for purchases and mortgage applications alike. With a distinct shortage of houses in the UK, there is still far too much demand to outstrip supply, so competition remains rife in the market, especially for properties below the £400,000 mark, where the first time buyer market predominantly sits. There are still huge conveyancing delays in the industry, with such an archaic legal system in place and showing no signs of repeal anytime soon, this is perhaps the biggest risk to borrowers not completing on their purchases before their mortgage offers expire. This leads to borrowers having to re-apply on a potentially significantly higher rate, with much higher and now unaffordable mortgage payments, when combined with the rising cost of living. With rumours of a slowdown in house prices however, I would expect an increase in down valuations to come over the coming months, with surveyors simply not knowing what the near future holds as regards the property market, and being overly cautious in their approach as to valuations.

Apparently there is a down turn coming however we are in the midst of a very busy month so house hunters haven seemed to given up just yet. I am asked daily is now a good time to buy? Will rates keep going up? Will prices come down? Its all speculation at the moment, with the cost of fuel and grain dropping but rates increasing, its anyones game at the moment