REVIEW OF PROPERTY MARKET 2004

The year of 2004 will be remembered as the year that the housing market finally ran out of steam. Despite several false alarms in the preceding few years when the market paused for a breather, the dramatic price rises in the early part of 2004 finally culminated in the return to a "buyers market" during the second half of the year.

2004 kicked off with the continued shortage of homes for sale in the Broadstone area, together with a very strong demand from buyers. This shortage of available property together with Estate Agents competing for the business of selling homes, many of whom gave inflated valuations to gain business, saw prices rise around 10% in the first quarter. The Spring market continued along much the same way with many vendors and agents attempting to price property up to 10% higher again to cash in on the surge in demand. Against this backdrop, interest rates were quietly edging up at a quarter percentage point a time and it was inevitable that this would impact on confidence and prices in the second half of the year.

As the press and various "experts" started to predict a crash in property prices across the country, similar to the late 1980's, confidence in buyers diminished rapidly coinciding with the bank base rate edging towards 5%, this figure being around 40% higher than its low point in 2003. During the autumn, for the first time in many years the supply of properties in the Broadstone area exceeded the number of able and willing buyers and this in turn lead to a correction in prices, whereby prices slipped back to levels which were seen in the very early part of 2004. The message for 2005 is that providing vendors and agents are realistic in their expectations, then the market should tick over on a fairly level footing, with perhaps very moderate price changes dependent on the outlook for interest rates. Fortunately, Broadstone is well blessed with a very high standard of schools which maintains a strong demand from people wishing to move into the catchment area or stay within it. In addition, Broadstone continues to prove very popular with people of retirement age due to the busy shopping parade and wide variety of activities and interests available throughout the village.

We at Holt & Osborne can confirm that both bungalows and family homes in sought after established parts of the village should continue to attract good demand and hopefully, be somewhat sheltered from any potential downturn in the market. Those of you hoping to move during this year should seek an experienced independent estate agent and ask them to be realistic when pricing your home and that in turn should continue to enable people to move without too much of a delay.

SIMON HOLT, HOLT & OSBORNE ESTATE AGENTS

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