Page 6 - Redbrik Lifestyle & Property Magazine: Spring 2019

6
PROPERTY MARKET IN FULL SWING
WRITTEN BY
MARK ROSS
MARK.ROSS@REDBRIK.CO.UK
Redbrik turned six in January, yet
I cannot remember a time during these past years where we have been asked more frequently “how is the property market?”
I suppose it is understandable – given some of the recent press reports and the ongoing political uncertainty
of the past few years – why people might be concerned.
However, it is fantastic to reply honestly with positivity about what
is going on locally. Since publishing the previous edition of this magazine in November 2018, we have experienced a series of record- breaking months, with more and more clients buying, selling, renting and letting with Redbrik.
In every measure of the business,
we are outperforming where we were a year ago. So why then are
all the reports we read and hear so negative, which is in stark contrast to what we are experiencing? And why does it seem that now, more than ever, people are so interested in the property market?
Well, firstly I think the reporting is easy to understand.
Press scaremongering with headlines about a 33 per cent fall in house prices are great headlines. The reality, of course, was The Bank of England stress-tested UK banks, to see if they could withstand a 33 per cent fall
in house prices. The BOE did not say this would happen, and all the banks passed the stress test, but that is not going to sell newspapers.
The news that in central London speculative house prices are falling,
which often fuels the national press and makes great headlines, is really of no consequence for the vast majority of us. Many of the £5m-plus properties are bought for speculative gain, similar to cars and art. Prices at this level are widely expected to fall by 20 per cent before, no doubt, rising again.
I have said before that there seems to be one market inside the M25 and another outside. It is the latter which, to continue the dancing analogy, has a spring in its step.
The good news for Redbrik clients
is that the property market is right on the beat and most definitely in full swing for Spring. The Daily Mail recently carried a report compiled by The Advisory - an advice and support resource for house sellers - highlighting that two of the top ten postcodes in the United Kingdom to sell a property are in our region - S8 and S11.
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