At the moment it is difficult to tell and we will only have a better idea once there is more to sell and houses have been sold. 

There is undoubtedly uncertainty. The catalyst was the fallout from the mini budget in late September. On the one hand therefore there are plenty of bad news stories about and predictions are gloomy.  Having said that neither mortgage rates nor inflation are likely to be as high as was first predicted, and most mortgage products are back on the shelf. Equally, there seems to be a good number of buyers still looking for Cotswold property in all price ranges.  We have experienced this with the marketing of new properties or re-launching of those, mostly at lower guide prices.

The offer to viewing ratio has decreased significantly.  We suspect this is due to many buyers sitting on their hands, waiting to see what will happen in the market. This is understandable in the current circumstances.  However we predict that at some point in the not too distant future buyers will start to make offers and when they do there is likely to be competition again.  There is still relatively, a low level of stock available.

Of course house prices may come down but due to the dynamics outlined above we think if this happens it will be only by a few percentage points maybe 5%. This discount has probably happened already. Equally, as we have said there could be strong demand which will work in favour of the seller’s market, but that should not be relied upon as the norm.  The froth in the Cotswold housing market that we have experienced over the last 2 ½ - 3 years is almost certainly behind us.

If you would like to talk to us about this or about your property needs either as a buyer or seller please let us know.

Sam Butler Tel: 01285 883740 e-mail: sam@butlersherborn.co.uk