According to research by the property website propertyfinder.com, the gap has widened between buyers and sellers when it comes to their views on the housing market. Buyers are becoming more negative, while sellers are maintaining their optimism. Sellers are expecting their properties to increase in value by an average of 3.5% over the next few months, while buyers are expecting house prices to fall by at least 0.75%.
In February, buyers were making offers on a property of an average of 5.2% below the asking price, but sellers were initially only prepared to even think about offers at around 3% below. The amount of property coming onto the market is now 32% higher than last year. Because of this saturation, it is now a buyers market and are making offers well below the asking price because they can afford to wait. Buyers now seem to be cautious as uncertainty over future interest rises continue.
Our view
As ever, property is a hot topic.