Copy by Graham White Managing Director, Local Real EstateAfter what has certainly been one of the more challenging years in property sales, it looks like we are going to be having a very strong end to the year in 2023. From the end of the January this year sentiment has struggled. Buyers have held off from making decisions, and it has been one of those one step forward, two steps backwards type of year. Rentals however was an exception - only moving forwards. However, as with anything, markets, good or bad, are only moments in time and the equilibrium and normal trend will nearly always be restored.
In the property market, when you have a period of suppression, you will be left with an overspill of pent-up demand. Demand never goes away. Sometimes there is an oversupply of demand and sometimes an under supply, but over a period of a few years, the same number of people still want to buy a property, be it in unequal waves. Right now, we are sitting in a period where the pendulum has now swung back into a high demand market.
As an agency this is the time we work harder to get results after this long hard year; as a seller, this is the time to have your home ready to look its best and listen to any reasonable offers because the overspill effect doesn’t last too long; as buyer, know you are all of a sudden competing with more serious buyers so don’t let indecision lose you the right property. There are still lots of very well priced properties on the market. Don’t let them pass you by, because when they are gone, they are gone.
As property practitioners we have been privy to this market change which has been happening for a few months now and it is already in full flow. However, the lag effect is that consumers will only be seeing this now and into next month.
A few of the great examples that we look for regarding market sentiment, or an uptick in serious buyers have happened very recently – and I will share what we have experienced in our estate agency. October was our best month in sales since June 2021; Simbithi and Palm Lakes have both had record price sales agreed and signed in October; we had competing offers both at the asking price on a property last month (which hasn’t happened in a very long time); 4 of the last 7 properties we have listed in the last week have all sold, and last but not least, one of our longest listed properties that we have on the market has suddenly sold after an extended period of close to zero interest!
As metrics go for a good market, including just the general feeling within the office and the busyness that comes with it, these are what we look for and all have been hit in the last month. Additionally, it might be interesting for you to know, that historically if a year finishes strong, it nearly always starts strong the following year.