Property market showing definite signs of recovery

Increased sales and a busier property market point the way forward for 2010…

 By Patrick Palmer, Partner at Templeton Robinson’s Lisburn Road branch

  As everyone knows, it has been a difficult few years, really since the summer of 2007 when the economy and therefore the housing market began to struggle.  But we are very positive about the future. We have started to see an increase in the number of sales and we expect 2010 to be a much improved year.

 As far as the market overall is concerned we can see a positive and gradual recovery taking place. Throughout 2009 there were obvious signs of this recovery across all five of Templeton Robinson’s offices. With our coverage of the residential sales market province wide we can now see the overall direction of the market improving at a steady rate.

 Firstly, from spring of last year we saw a sharp rise in the number of transactions taking place.  In the majority of cases those sales completing were at very realistic market values, due to the pricing structure having gone through a downward corrective period of 30 to 40 per cent over the previous 18 months.  Secondly, and as important, there was more access and availability to funding from the majority of lenders.  Moving forward, it is paramount for the overall recovery in the long term that this availability to funding continues and in fact increases on a sensible and balanced level. 

 As one would expect, the recovery started at the lower end of the market with the majority of deals taking place within the £150,000 and £250,000 price bracket.  With Templeton Robinson’s full coverage right through the pricing ranges we were very encouragingly able to see, at the latter part of last year, the trend of transactions move up through the middle to even the upper end of the price chain. 

November and December are traditionally months when the market can be quiet but last year business continued on a very positive upward trend. This cemented our view that the market which had been suppressed for such a long time was beginning to get moving again.

 Going forward in 2010 we can already see this positive movement continuing.  Although it is likely to be next year before we see prices starting to increase, we are very confident that the number of transactions successfully completing will continue to rise.  This is vital for us all and ultimately will lead to the residential sales prices across the board in Northern Ireland starting to lift.