The question for most buyers searching for property for sale in Carshalton currently seems to be “Is this it - or will there be more activity when Spring finally arrives?”
Of course, looking at the amount of property for sale in Carshalton and the surrounding areas of Wallington, Hackbridge and Sutton, there doesn’t appear to be much difference week-on-week but then buyers will be convincing themselves that Spring isn’t quite here yet – after all the first daffodils of the year are only just starting to appear! But is this optimism well founded – or will it be dashed, as it has been for the last 2-3 years?
In terms of statistics for the first two months of the year, things are looking positive in relation to properties being offered onto the market: Although January was pretty similar (12 Instructions taken in Jan 2014 compared to 11 new properties for sale this year), February has seen something of an improvement - with 13 new properties available in 2015 compared to only 6 in 2014! This actually represents a 33% increase – but, of course, is a small sample (only two months) from a “boutique” independent agency, so might not be reflected by other local estate agencies.
Yet – whilst that would seem positive if it were reflected across all agencies, the real “problem” for buyers is simply that across the same period, Silverman Black has registered 458 new applicants in 2015 compared with only 290 in 2014 – an increase of about 60%.
Of course, it is this imbalance which is continuing to drive upwards the price of property for sale in Carshalton – and actually makes the question of “when to buy” reasonably irrelevant. The honest truth of the situation from a buyer’s perspective is simply that although there will certainly be more properties available to buy locally in March, April and May – there will just as certainly be larger numbers of buyers out in the marketplace, increasing competition and inflating prices.
From the seller’s perspective, however, the situation is rather different. The disproportionate number of buyers being “generated” by the modest increase in properties available for sale actually incentivises them to wait as long as possible to market their homes – especially of they are moving outside the M25, where the same “rules” do not seem to apply. Moving locally, property owners will experience both sides of this particular “coin” – achieving a great price for their own property and paying a commensurately high price for their onward purchase, whilst if they’re moving to East or West Sussex (for example) property seems more readily available and are thereby more competitively priced.
Overall then, our advice to people looking at property for sale in Carshalton is simply “don’t wait”! If you see something you like, don’t be shy about offering and certainly don’t fall into the trap of thinking that another property is guaranteed to come up shortly just because we’re on the cusp of the Spring market! If it does, there is likely to be even more competition for it which almost certainly means having to pay a higher price to secure it!
