List your East Sussex property now to benefit from Christmas demand
Christmas is almost here and if you’re thinking of selling your home soon, now is the time to act and get your home on the market.
That’s because huge numbers of people start their property search over the festive period and you don’t want to miss out on this additional activity.
Many of us are fascinated by house prices and home ownership, meaning that once the dust has settled on the Christmas dinner, people are increasingly inclined to fire up the property portals and agents’ websites to browse what’s available in their local area.
This surge in demand for homes means the January market bounce actually starts in December, so the savviest sellers will already be on the market or make sure their property is listed ahead of a prime period for property browsing.
Festive property traffic – the key stats
Prospective property buyers are extremely active between Christmas and New Year due to people having extra time off work and attentions turning to new beginnings and fresh starts for the New Year.
According to Rightmove, its website traffic increased by 231% between Christmas Day 2018 and January 2nd 2019. There were over 25 million pages views on Rightmove on Boxing Day 2018, with an estimated 40 million total viewings of property listings.
This surge in traffic is echoed on other property portals such as Zoopla, as well as estate agents’ own websites.
Although most people may not want to actually move home over Christmas, this is the time they take their first steps towards a purchase – browsing available properties and registering with estate agents.
If your property is not listed online during this period, you could miss out on a range of opportunities and allow other eager sellers to steal a march.
Attracting interest in your property over the festive break means you can be ready to hit the ground running in January, hosting viewings and negotiating offers.
With the right marketing strategy in place, your property could be seen by many more eager buyers at just the right moment – increasing your chances of a quick and hassle-free sale.
A bigger than ever festive surge in Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne?
January is traditionally one of the busiest months of the year for the property market as people start their search for a new home over Christmas and then proceed with viewings and putting in offers in the New Year.
As mentioned above, the New Year is associated with positive change and fresh starts so many people who have been thinking about purchasing a property for a while will make their move in January.
The 2020 festive surge and subsequent January 2021 bounce could be bigger than ever, so it’s vital that you take advantage. The recent news that a Covid-19 vaccine has been approved in the UK will provide a timely boost to consumer confidence.
Meanwhile, the long-term effects of the pandemic and buyers’ changing priorities (looking for home office space, coastal and rural locations and bigger gardens) means more people could be looking to move than usual this year.
Rightmove posted record traffic figures on several occasions over the summer as a result of the stamp duty holiday and the release of pent-up demand from the spring lockdown. It would be no surprise to see these records broken again between Christmas and New Year.
This could lead to sellers attracting significant interest in their properties come January and an increased chance of selling quickly for the best possible price.
The only way you can meet the stamp duty deadline
The question on many sellers’ lips at the moment will be: “Can I sell my property and buy another one ahead of the stamp duty holiday deadline at the end of March?”. The answer is yes, but you must act now if you want to give yourself the best chance of benefiting from stamp duty savings.
At the moment, there is no indication that the government is planning to extend the stamp duty holiday beyond March 31 2021, so time really is of the essence.
Luckily, buyers will be extremely keen to get transactions over the line in the New Year so they can benefit from thousands of pounds worth of tax savings. Therefore, sellers could find themselves in a more powerful negotiating position and able to capitalise on increased urgency in the January market.
Here at Oakfield Estate Agents, we will do everything we can to ensure our clients benefit from the significant stamp duty savings available until the end of March.
For further information on how you can benefit from a festive surge in traffic and beat the stamp duty holiday deadline, please get in touch with us today. You can request a free instant online valuation to see how much your East Sussex property could be worth on the local market.