As far as the market overall is concerned we can see a positive and gradual recovery taking place. For the majority of 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 see the overall direction of the market improving at a steady rate.
From spring of last year throughout the company 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 30/40% 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 long term that this availability to funding continues and in fact increases on a sensible and balanced level.
The recovery started which one would expect at the lower end of the market with the majority of deals taking place between 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. This was very evident in November and December which inherently is a very quiet time in the market place when business continued on a very positive upward trend which cemented our view as a whole that the market had been suppressed for such a long time and was beginning to get moving again.
Going forward in 2010 we can already see this positive movement continuing. Although we don’t see prices starting to increase until more than likely next year we are very confident that the number of transactions successfully completing will continue to rise and this is vital for us all and ultimately will lead to the residential sales prices across the board in Northern Ireland starting to lift.
Comments
David Mitchell
3 February 2010 21:02
good article Paddy says David!
Tom
4 February 2010 13:59
Glad to see someone isn't in denial about house prices, although I think you could take the statement further and say "Although we don't see prices starting to increase until more than likely next year,..." "we will see a decline in asking prices" Seriously, estate agents will have to advise the vendors that prices have a long way to drop and if you realistically price the house in the first place you can start bidding from there.
peter
18 April 2010 17:14
Do you have an updated view on the market. It would seem that the momentum gained in November and December has slowed considerably. Plenty of houses seem to be coming onto the market in Belfast, but prices still remain very optimistic for the majority of houses and littles seems to be selling.
Templeton Robinson
21 April 2010 08:29
PETER, Yes there have been encouraging signs in the market over the first couple of months of the year which have levelled off however generally things are slowly but surely improving & in the current climate we would expect sales to be of a stop start nature.We will over the next week be doing a market overview to cover our thoughts on the market in full. TR
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