As an exceptionally busy 2021 draws to a close, the prediction from Rightmove is that it expects a closer to normal though still busy market in 2022.

One sign of the traditional norm is the continuation of the seasonal fall in the price of property coming to market, down by 0.7% compared to a 0.6% fall this time last year.

Rightmove state that house prices are forecast to rise by another 5% in 2022, however some of the edge will be taken off sellers’ pricing power by increasingly stretched buyer affordability, and more buyer choice boosted by previously hesitant sellers now gearing up for a New Year move. This would be quite timely, as most agents are seeing fully available stock for sale at a record low. Promisingly, requests from homeowners to estate agents to have their home valued are 19% up on this time a year ago, indicating that much-needed buyer choice will be coming to the market in the New Year.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director  of Property Data commented “the kind of frenzied market we’ve seen in the last 18 months happens only a few times in most home-owners ‘buying and selling’  lifetimes, exacerbated by the even rarer event of a global pandemic, pushing homes higher up most people’s priorities. While the pandemic is still having an ever-changing impact as we head into the New Year, we expect a housing market moving closer to normal during the course of 2022”.

Owners who come to market in the next few months and are judged by prospective buyers to be asking an affordable price, will therefore find their chances of a successful sale very high. That will put those sellers looking to buy again in a very powerful position to secure their next purchase, where they could well be in competition with several other buyers. Being a ‘power buyer’ who has sold subject to contract or can buy without selling has increasingly become a requirement this year and will continue to be the case in 2022. Proving you have access to funds, including a mortgage agreement in principle is also becoming a ‘must-have’, not only to get higher up the pecking order, but also to speed up the process.

A sign of the property market’s frenetic activity is that seven out of ten properties on Rightmove are sold subject to contract – this number has never been higher and with two months of data yet to be reported, 2021 has already seen the highest level of completed home sales since 2007.

David Phillip commented, some sellers are already gearing up to selling their homes in the New Year which starts with the Boxing Day Bounce on Rightmove and continues through January. However, despite high demands, buyers will have limits to what they are expected to pay, and with the availability of stock so low, any property that hangs around will stick out like a sore thumb – setting too high an asking price, may seem a good idea at the time, but in the long term this could have an adverse effect on your property sale. At David Phillip Estate Agents, we price realistically but competitively, this gets more people looking around the property and therefore more people likely to offer, generally resulting in an ‘over asking price’ sale”

Yorkshire and Humberside continue to perform well according to Rightmove at plus 0.3% v the previous month and plus 6.1% v the previous year, with an average of 36 days to sell.

So if you are looking to sell and take advantage of what has been forecast as a buoyant January call David Phillip FRICS for a free market appraisal on 01134 676 400 w: davidphillip.co.uk a: 86, Leeds Road, Bramhope, Leeds.