As we enter the Autumn market and one of the busiest times for buying and selling, September has seen Cheam, Banstead, Sutton and Epsom flying with our team assisting a near-record number of clients. Our founder, Monica Bradley, provides her take on the property market over the last month…
“With children back in school and most people back to work following the summer, we’ve seen a surge in enquiries for purchase mortgages as those in the local area turn their attention to finding their next home in anticipation of a move prior to Christmas. Properties have been turning over briskly at all price points, from first time buyers to the top end of the market, which would rather suggest that despite the headlines in September around Brexit and its potential effect on house prices, many people are continuing to go about their daily lives in very much a ‘business as usual’ fashion.”
Monica continues, “The drivers for moving are there, as is the motivation, so whilst other parts of London and the South East might be finding things subdued at the moment, locally there is still a lot of momentum. However, we’ve observed that those properties which are selling in a reasonable amount of time have been realistically priced, so those who are considering putting their home on the market would be advised to research comparable properties thoroughly so that they have a good understanding of the level of pricing that the current environment can withstand.”
But what of those who are improving rather than moving? Monica suggests that, “Now is still a great time to secure competitive borrowing if you are considering remortgaging to raise more capital to fund a significant project. Borrowers have been very circumspect in terms of increasing product rates over the last couple of months, so if you are thinking about applying for a new deal, there certainly is a lot of choice available in the market at the moment.”
“For those who just want to lock into a great fixed rate deal on a ‘like for like’ lending amount, there are some super two, three and five year products available,” Monica adds “So those who are still sat on their lender’s Standard Variable Rate may be surprised at just how much they might be able to save on their monthly mortgage payment, or how much they can reduce the overall term of their mortgage, all just as a result of coming to have a chat with one of our team to run through the options. Last week one of our advisers was delighted as, having completed a remortgage for one of his clients, he was told that the monthly saving over the course of a year would pay for the family’s annual holiday to Lanzarote! Needless to say, his client was delighted, and said how simple it was for them to save such a significant amount of money and how easy our adviser made the process from start to finish.”
If you’re currently considering moving home or a remortgage and would like any advice, or perhaps would value an independent view of the local market, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or pop into our Cheam offices for an informal chat.