Post-election Optimism for the Property Market

Patrick Rampton, director of Wandsworth-based agents Rampton Baseley, is confident that the stalling of the property market and uncertainties of potential buyers are behind us and that there are signs that 2020 could see a recovery.

“Whatever your thoughts on Boris as a politician, the manner of his party’s recent election victory has hugely influenced the Wandsworth market. In a positive way, obviously,” he said. “Even in early December, all the quality properties began to be snapped up. People were competing for them, and pretty fiercely too: I don’t think that I can ever remember so many competitive bidding situations in December.”

“The market kicked on again in the run up to Christmas, and a truly festive bun-fight ensued. Consequently, we took an unheard of step, and kept the office open between Xmas and NY – people were still ringing and registering throughout. As an aside, I was pondering on the type of family you must have, if you’d rather speak to an estate agent over Christmas rather than your nearest and dearest!”

Despite the positive effects of the election, he said that there’s still an imbalance in supply and demand: “Stock levels this January wee half what they were last year. Conversely, buyer registrations were double what they were last year. We have very little stock, and very lots of buyers – a direct quote from Adam Smith, that!”

But there could be hurdles on the way to a full recovery, he added. “I don’t think that this market will necessarily last long; early research suggests that there are quite a few vendors waiting for the Feb Budget, and potential changes to Stamp Duty – and let’s be honest, if they do occur, they’re only going to be positive ones, aren’t they?”

Overall, he is optimistic that there will be a significant step forward in terms of confidence of buyers and sellers, and the supply of the homes that people want.

“There may well be a lot of new property to the market, and the Smithsonian See-saw of Supply and Demand, may well rebalance around the Fulcrum of Fate – trust me, I’m an estate agent.”