THE last twelve months have seen steady improvement in the housing market and momentum is gathering again with renewed confidence, enthusiasm and no shortage of buyers.
Buyer confidence is high and buyers are buying with their heart rather than their head. When it comes to marketing properties you have to make people fall in love with a place.
There’s no shortage of mortgages either. And with phase two of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme and 95% funding available, some lenders are finally relaxing their lending criteria. Optimism about the market is breaking out.
The problem is a shortage of properties for sale.
Lee HillLee Hill, sales manager for Jones Lang LaSalle in Manchester explained: “The financial crash of 2008 halted the pipeline of developments in the city. The lack of new residential schemes in recent years, combined with a significant number of vendors in negative equity and being forced to become overnight landlords and rent their apartments rather than sell, has led to a shortage of re-sale properties.
“We registered over 100 new buyers last month alone so the demand is there but we need the properties to show them.”
So is this likely to change any time soon? Will we see a flood of properties?
The strength of the re-sale market is prompting some individual landlords to change tack and sell their properties now that prices in some cases have come back to market values not too far away from where they were pre 2008
New schemes such as Royal Mills, Cypress Place and Islington Wharf Mews are soaking up some private demand but total numbers are fairly small and many of the new build buyers have come out of rental properties rather than having their own places to sell.
Other schemes like Alto will launch early next year and several new residential schemes have just got planning but they are not going to be hitting the market for a couple of years.
Institutional investors also see Manchester as a safe place with property yielding a good return for pension funds so developments that could come for sale are instead going to rent.
Lee said: “The reinvigorated sales market has already resulted in several landlords reviewing their situation and deciding to market their properties when tenancies come to an end. This has made more stock available but we are very long way off oversupply. Vendors that have previously been left with no option but to rent may be surprised to learn that the value of their property is more than they may think which would make selling an option again.”
Which means that if you do own a property all the agents are going to come courting to acquire your property for their books, but be careful what you are seduced by.
Royal Mills Interior
An over inflated valuation can be flattering and ultra low fees enticing but at the end of the day you want to sell as painlessly as possible and move up or move out.
Lee said: “Every agent wants the sales instruction right now and we are confident to value optimistically but we do not want to win an instruction by suggesting that something is worth £250,000 when really it’s only worth £225,000. Buyers are savvy and need to be convinced the price is realistic or they will lose faith in the agent if they think that a property is overpriced and will buy elsewhere.
“Throughout 2013 we have achieved an average of 96% of the asking price across all our properties which I think proves that we generally get the values right. We want to do the very best for vendors but we do not like to see properties on the market for long periods or have to reduce. We like to get it right first time.
“The market is rising but it is a long way off being the frenzy that it was in 2006 when prices were increased on a daily basis.
“We don’t want to see a return to those days and as a company we are forecasting growth of 4% in Manchester next year and that price increase will be driven by supply and demand not an overheated market. It is sustainable and healthy and shows progressive growth.”
Jones Lang La Salle is good on the research. Its annual reviews, done for the national market and individual regions are usually accurate and a voice of reason in a world of market hype.
You can read their thoughts on the North West Market 2014 here.
Being part of the biggest property firm in Europe can have its drawbacks with a perception amongst some that JLL only deal in top end properties. They are keen to dispel the idea and guarantee they will work just as hard and just as professionally if you have a one bed flat in the Northern Quarter as a three bed penthouse in Leftbank.
So confident are they of finding you a buyer in 30 days that they will halve their standard fee if they don’t. See their Confidential advert for details or just go and speak to Lee and his team.
They have offices on Deansgate and in the Northern Quarter and they will tell you all you need to know about your property, what it’s worth and how to present it to maximise your asset.
Lee said: “Buyer confidence is high and buyers are buying with their heart rather than their head. When it comes to marketing properties you have to make people fall in love with a place. We will always give honest advice to vendors to help maximise value and achieve a sale. I came to Manchester in 2003 and bought and sold about half a dozen apartments over about five years so I can speak from experience.
“And making changes does make a difference. In Islington Wharf recently one unit was attracting a lot of interest but being empty buyers were struggling to visualise living in the property, we advised the owner to put in a furniture pack to show how the space could be used. It cost him £300 a month but we sold it in one week and in the end we had two people fighting over it.
“For us being a successful agency is about having experienced staff who know the city and the individual buildings really well, being optimistic but realistic on price and delivering sales.”
Speak to Lee or any of his team on 0161 2387400 or e-mail him at Lee.hill@eu.jll.com Or click here.
Property market's picking up
