David Jones, director of Allan Morris Estate Agents, offers some words of advice to those thinking of buying or selling property over the coming months.

We have just enjoyed a very busy 2014 in the property market, with selling prices in this area now somewhere between 5 – 10% higher than they were a couple of years ago. For the last year or so there has been a growing feeling of optimism and expectation in the air, which has been very welcome after the dark days of the 2007 property crash and the lengthy economic recession that followed.

This year across the Wyre Forest area, we have enjoyed our best sales figures for about 7 years. Demand has been keen due to the comparatively low supply of properties coming to the market and the improved availability of mortgage finance. However, whilst this relative shortage of supply is continuing to stimulate competition amongst buyers, there are an increasing number of signs which suggest that the recent rises in house prices may have started to run out of steam a little.

House prices are firmly tied to the buyers’ ability to pay. Despite the lowest interest rates and some of the best mortgage deals in living memory, prices have recently softened a little. Buyers are now showing signs that they are quite happy to walk away from a deal if the seller won’t accept a realistic offer. And some sellers are regretting not accepting the sort of figures which may have been offered earlier in the year, but which may not be on the table now.

Mortgage lenders have recently tightened their lending criteria considerably, with regard to working out what they feel a borrower can afford to repay. This is significant because if buyers cannot borrow as much as they would like to, it is pretty clear that they will be unable to pay the prices that sellers might like! The key word is affordability. For the property market to work, prices have to be affordable. When property is not affordable it doesn’t sell.

For the time being the market remains buoyant and properties are selling well. Next spring however, with the general election battle in full cry, the market will probably be a little less certain. The threat of reduced family benefits, public sector cutbacks, pay freezes, mansion taxes for the wealthy and yet more austerity for the rest of the country are all factors which will affect the property market in one way or another.

So to all those who may be waiting until sometime later on next year before going to the market - or those currently on the market who imagine they are not in any particular hurry to sell – you may all be in more of a hurry than you think. This winter the market remains busy. By late spring next year, in the aftermath of the general election, things could have changed.

The real message is that buyers and sellers should take opportunities when they present themselves. Opportunity does not always knock twice. No-one can know for sure whether house prices will be higher, lower or the same next year. The same goes for interest rates