Prices Rise in a Buyers Market

The gap between buyers and sellers is ever widening, says Rightmove.co.uk, as the post Easter boom sees house prices climb further, despite the fact that it is clearly still a buyers market. The traditional spring upturn in the market was belated, but tangible, and indicators are that a swing from excessive supply to excessive demand is taking place, it is thought this trend will not continue past the third quarter. ?There is still a lot of slack to make up,? say the experts at Rightmove. Sellers will be encouraged with the news that time on market has fallen by 11% to 73 days from 82 days last month, although this is high compared with last year, when time on the market averaged at 54 days. Miles Shipside said: ?With buyers looking to purchase at this time of year, we would expect time on the market to keep dropping as long as buyers continue to be active. ?Feedback from most estate agents is that properties which are accurately valued for the competitive market are the ones that are selling quickly, so this drop in time on market hides the fact that some properties are taking a lot longer to sell, if at all.? This month demand exceeds supply, which is an encouraging turnaround following a sustained imbalance so far this year. However, if sellers continue to refuse to be negotiable on prices, and buyers continue to refuse to pay the asking prices, we may well see stagnation later on. ?This is a crucial period for the housing market in 2005,? continued Mr Shipside, ?Sellers must become more accurate in their pricing, and agents have to stop over-pricing properties to win instructions in order to recover lost revenue the market to prevent stagnation.?