When to put house on the market!

homeseller

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Hello,

Prior to covid, we had our house valued and began house hunting to trade up. We know properties well in our area and have been actively involved in viewing. We have found a property we like but we do need to sell our home in order to trade up. We don't wish do virtual viewings.

What are people's thoughts on timing of property selling in this strange environment? Would you have the house ready to sell once the ban is lifted or would you wait 3-6 months to see how the property market is reacting.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you
 
Homeseller, the country even the world at large is undergoing one hell of an economic shock, everything is frozen and at a standstill. Planes are grounded, factories and offices are emptied, roads are silent When the restrictions are lifted, the country will slowly start grinding up again but I really think it will be many months before the effects of this shock to the economy will become clear. No one knows what effect this will have on the housing market but one thing is for sure, it will be vastly different from what it was like pre Covid19 .
 
My own gut feeling is to look at the supply and demand after we come out of this paralysis. People still need homes so there will be demand and the only issue to suppress prices is if there is a larger supply of houses. If like before the banks do not supply finance that will curtail demand but desired demand will still exist. I think that for a few months after the lockdown the market will have a low volumn of trades but the issue of people forced to continue to pay high rents will drive purchase demand.
 
The shock the economy is experiencing will take a while to fully understand. I would expect there to be be significant volatility in the housing market when it initially reopens. I don't expect a rising/falling tide to impact all houses equally. 3-6 months is a very short period of time in the housing market.

At an individual house level it probably means at the lower end of the market prices will be more effected while properties in more demand we'll keep their value.

For people trading up the concern is your property could be more effected than the one you want to buy. The greater your reliance on equity in your current home the greater the uncertainty of what you can afford. I'd advise you to try synchronise selling and buying. If you can don't sign any contracts to purchase before you have received similar on your own.
 
It’s impossible to say. I would be less pessimistic than others on the basis that:

- There was far greater demand than supply going into this
- Building has stopped so there will be an issue with supply
- Lots of people still want to buy because life simply moves on
- With the greatest respect to those people unlucky enough to lose their jobs, is it not fair to say that most are hourly workers in service sectors who are unlikely to be in a position to buy anyway?

I agree 100% that the market could be very volatile during the period immediately post the crisis/lockdown. But volatile both ways. Yes, banks might constrain credit (e.g. the recent suspension of exemptions by two of the banks). But equally supply may become very constrained if tenants can’t be moved on due to new concessions nevermind the logistics around physically getting a property on the market when elements of the economy may still be restricted.
 
No question demand will continue to exceed supply. However, wanting to buy is one thing. What you can afford is another. Covid and the response to it raises logistic issues:

the withdrawal of LTI exemptions effectively reduce buyers purchasing power in about 20% of cases this will depress the market.

How will banks stress test households who have been furloughed? An extended period off full salary may negatively impact this test and may further reduce loan amounts.

Some people simply won't get their jobs back. Think it was the esri or Central Bank that suggested 25% unemployment reducing to 10% by year end (assuming a quick restart in the economy). That's still double what we were pre- covid. Those that do will be coming back to a changed world. Wage increases are surely less likely now. Again all negatively contributing to what the demand side brings to the housing market.

The lack of supply will act as a break on any decrease or rather act as a floor.
 
Before selling anything you must know the minimum amount you wish to sell it for. If we were selling we'd put the house on the market immediately.
 
id wait personally, because even though you may be prepared to take less than you wanted for a quick sale, the houses you want to trade to may not be available or the owners may not be minded the same way.

last thing you want is your place for sale for a prolonged period it puts people off as they assume something is wrong with it
 
Thank you. We are getting the house ready..so at least using our isolation time productively...
 
last thing you want is your place for sale for a prolonged period it puts people off as they assume something is wrong with it
Agree with this. As someone who bought in the last few years we would have checked for all the latest additions to myhome.ie and daft frequently. We dismissed (rightly or wrongly) houses that were listed for a long time.
 
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