Comment: New Year, new postive outlook for the local property market?

Still readjusting to real life after emerging from a fog of mulled wine and Christmas pudding wondering what day of the week it is? You’re not alone.

But with the festive season now officially behind us, it’s time to reconnect with the cold, hard reality of what to many of us seems like the most miserable time of the year.

For some this will mean house hunting, and no amount of dreary January days will stop motivated wannabe-movers from checking out what’s on offer in their preferred areas.

The ever-present uncertainty of Brexit combined with fears that prices in Herts are falling will undoubtedly make this task more challenging, however.

Such worries won’t have stopped us from indulging in a bit of virtual house hunting over Christmas, with Boxing Day now almost as synonymous with a spike in Rightmove traffic as it is with turkey sandwiches.

The stretch from Christmas Day to the first working day of the New Year traditionally sees a huge increase in page views on the property portal, with figures tripling during the same period last year.

In fact, Rightmove’s Miles Shipside said before Christmas that home owners thinking about selling should consider doing so soon to get “maximum exposure to the surge in interest from buyers who make it their resolution to move in the New Year”.

You’re thinking “he would say that”, right? While he’s obviously got a vested interest, but he’s also got a point.

The experts we spoke to at the tail end of 2018 were tentative when sharing their thoughts about what this year would have in store for the local market, but they agreed that people who wanted to move would do so regardless of any perceived fear about Brexit – or anything else for that matter.

Happy New Year for the local market? I’ve got my fingers crossed.