As 2018 draws to a close, it’s time for a good round up of local expert insight into what the New Year is likely to have in store.

Richard Burton spoke to several Herts-based estate agents to establish a fuller picture of how things are looking, and, not surprisingly, the verdict is one of widespread uncertainly.

Phrases like “unchartered territory” and “challenging times” sum up the experts’ views on the current market, as the dark cloud of Brexit continues to linger. And, given this unprecedented political climate, no one’s expecting these feelings to abate anytime soon.

For anyone planning on moving up the ladder, these uncertain times aren’t necessarily a bad thing, with any perceived loss on the current place being cancelled out by even bigger savings on the new one.

Assuming the said ‘new one’ can be found, that is. Because uncertainty is always going to be a factor in a shortage of supply, meaning many buyers looking for larger family homes – particularly those that are in the catchments of popular secondary schools – are struggling to make their next move, however motivated they may be.

And as Rozanne Edwards of Strutt & Parker St Albans told Richard, the buyers that are looking to move now are very, very motivated. “There will always be people in the marketplace who need and want to move,” she said. “And those are the sort we’ve been seeing come to the market of late; the ones with a strong desire to be in places such as St Albans or Harpenden or move for the schools or simply needing bigger homes as their families grow.” If only there were more of these sorts of homes to go round...

Now, as we all look forward to Christmas, followed by a bit of Boxing Day Rightmove action, we’ll be crossing our fingers for a little bit of certainty in 2019.

Because if there’s one thing that we can say for sure about the current property market, it’s that it’s utterly and absolutely uncertain.