A BUYERS OR A SELLERS MARKET ? Ben Hudson suggests how to tackle the property market as we approach the end of lockdown and the start of summer.

Has the world gone completely mad? Indeed just lately the world of property seems as though it might have done.

If the press isn’t yelling about renovations at No 10, it’s screaming about panic buying and soaring prices.

How much should we believe?With No 10, one’s view depends on which side of the fence one is sitting.

And it’s the same with property.

There’s the buyer’s side of the fence and the seller’s side.

Sellers are having a good time of it at the moment.

In many parts of the country there is very little property coming onto the market, which is strengthening demand and driving up prices in those areas.

For buyers it is another picture.

Competing for every property with many other keen and proceedable buyers is not a calm or comfortable position to be in.

Urgency often causes hasty decisions, a little too much compromise and disappointment.

But the property market is fickle.

The pandemic, Brexit, low interest rates, looser lending criteria and the stamp duty holiday have primarily created this surge in demand.

What will happen when these things, like the No 10 renovation, are only memories?It is impossible to say for sure.

But what we do know is that the property market is cyclical.

What goes up usually to some extent comes down.

The first thing one should do is to remember the immortal words of Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army, “Don’t panic, Mr Mainwaring, don’t panic”.

If you must move or are up for a bit of market rough and tumble then by all means join the fray.

But if you want a more leisurely buying or selling experience, then perhaps you should hold off for a little while.

The market heat will dissipate before too long, just as Covid seems to be doing.

How do you decide whether to act now or wait? Well, you can leave it all to chance, or you can get some proper advice.

The thing is that estate agents don’t just sell property; the best ones advise buyers and sellers wisely.

When you think about it they know more about the emotional, practical and financial side of moving than anyone else, because they have seen it and done it hundreds of times for thousands of people and innumerable reasons.

So if you are wondering what and when your next step should be in the property stakes, don’t panic; talk it over with people who know.

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