In our bi-weekly series, readers can email in with any questions about property to be answered by our expert, Jonathan Rolande. Jonathan is a professional property-buyer and housing commentator who has bought and sold over 1,000 properties. If you have a question for him, email us at money@theipaper.com.
Question: I have a £300,000 semi-detached house I want to sell. I aimed to get it on the market in June but was delayed for various reasons. Is there any point going now, or should they wait until September at this stage? I understand fewer people list properties over summer and obviously it seems the housing market is struggling currently.
Answer: This year? I’d wait.
I know the counterargument because I’ve made it myself often enough: list the property now and you’ll be one of the few fresh properties buyers see, rather than one of hundreds arriving in the autumn rush. There is truth in that. It just isn’t enough to outweigh what August usually brings.
Start with the schools. The buyer for a three-bedroom semi at this price is often a family making their second move up the ladder. Those buyers aren’t spending August viewing houses. They’re juggling childcare, holidays and trying to keep the children occupied. Once the school gates reopen, normal life returns and so do property searches.
August also slows the machinery of a property transaction. Estate agencies work around holiday rotas, surveyors have longer waiting times and solicitors disappear for a fortnight just when you need them. A sale agreed in August rarely reaches the finish line any sooner than one agreed in early September. It simply spends longer waiting for everyone to come back.
Then there’s the house itself. Most homes actually look better in September. The temperature is kinder, the light softer, the garden has some life in it, and buyers aren’t arriving hot and bothered. Those early evening viewings after work are often when the best decisions get made.
More importantly, dare I say it – confidence feels as though it may be tentatively returning. The property market doesn’t function on mortgage rates alone. It runs on sentiment too. Buyers who have spent months sitting on their hands are starting to believe conditions may become more stable.
If there is an autumn bounce, however modest, you want to arrive looking fresh, not as the listing that’s been quietly gathering dust since the heatwave.
Because that’s the real danger of launching now. Six slow, unsold weeks don’t give you an advantage. Buyers naturally start asking themselves the question: “What’s wrong with it?”
The “new to market” alerts from portals and estate agents will have arrived when most buyers are not in the homebuying mood.
But don’t think of August as a wasted month. Think of it as a preparation month. Book the photographer for the final week of August. Instruct your solicitor now. Complete the property information forms.
Dig out the FENSA certificate, the boiler service records and the extension guarantees. Tidy the garden, clear the loft and give the front door a coat of paint. Then hit the first week of September with a home that’s well presented, sensibly priced and ready to sell.
Just remember – if you’re unlucky and it doesn’t sell by the end of September, rebook that photographer.
Because nothing says “stale-property” as much as a photo of a sun-bleached summer lawn in October!
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