9
Jan
January Market Review
Although mature estate agents are apt to say that they have seen
it all before, this time it is different. No one has seen this
market under this set of national and international financial
conditions before. But what is rather refreshing is that the
uncertainty now cuts down the speculation aspect of a house
purchase and strips the requirement to buy down to the real and
age-old essentials. This makes for easier choices.
Le Corbusier, the pioneering architect, stated that, “The
requirements for a house should be to provide a shelter against
heat, cold, rain, thieves and the inquisitive”. He
didn’t add that a house should also provide its owner with an
investment return of seven per cent year-on-year.
For the first time since the 1960s property investment can take
more of a back seat in the house buying mindset and, instead,
fundamental life requirements can come back to the fore. Of course
with other financial instruments providing so little in the way of
return, property is a natural arena in which to invest. But with
little or no indication about if or when the market, outside
central London, will return in any strength we are left with
simpler decisions and choices - does a property suit our
requirements in size, location, style and price?
It is as though our needs have been simplified in the way they
may have been fifty years ago. With less frenzy and greater choice,
for a while at least, this may be a very good time to choose a
primary or secondary home for all the very best lifestyle
reasons.
2011 was a hard year in property and this year may not be much
better. We may have new American, Russian and French presidents,
more ructions in Europe and the Middle East, and greater privations
at home before we see improvement. But still there is a reassuring
level of market activity that has more to do with need than
discretion. This is the market we have and this is the market we
have to deal with – and deal with it we will.
Real buyers and sellers should not be deterred. Indeed they
should be encouraged as the more life there is in the property
market the more life there is in the economy. But those still
insisting on the sort of financial profit they may have achieved
several years ago should perhaps think again. It will be the
enlightened who get to the top of the property class in 2012, not
those in denial.