State of the Market

People regularly ask me how things are.

Is property moving, is it selling or letting?

The answer very much depends on what day or week I am asked because there seems to be no real pattern.

In fact the general trend is that commercial and industrial property, which is what I deal with mostly, is moving albeit slowly and at reduced rents and prices.

Most landlords and owners are anxious to secure agreement and are becoming increasingly flexible about what they will accept.

On the other hand there are still lots of people looking for premises who simply never make a decision. This is the most frustrating part of the job at present but I suppose it goes with the territory.

The good news is that I have achieved a few lettings and sales completions over the past couple of months. Admittedly some of them were agreed in the summer and they have taken a long time to come to fruition but that is far better than no completions.

It would be nice to think that the next six weeks or so are going to be active and fruitful because inevitably business will go quiet again by mid December as the pre-Christmas party frenzy starts.

By the way, my office address has changed to 1 Rosemead, Ingbirchworth, Penistone, Sheffield, S36 7GQ.

For the time being the phone numbers are the same as always but they will change in early December.

Chris

Excuses, excuses

I am finding at present that it is easier for people to NOT make a decision rather than to make a decision that may prove to be wrong or costly or both.

I receive plenty of enquiries about buildings for sale or to let and I conduct lots of viewings but often then do not hear again from the people that I have met.

Of course it could be personal and they just don't like me or they might not like the building or the deal that is available.

To try and find out I make a point of following up these contacts and often learn that their business is not ready to make the commitment that is necessary. This applies particularly to new start ups and small businesses but increasingly larger businesses have their hands tied which prevent business expansion or progression.

Understandably there are all sorts of reasons or excuses for not moving premises including lack of money, political uncertainty, holidays, bank pressure, etc.

I suspect the World Cup will now be a good reason for the next six weeks for continuing inertia and then of course the new Coalition Government's proposed austerity measures will do nothing to improve the situation.

So what do we do?

All I can say is to just do what is right for you. I don't blame anyone for NOT making a decision because making the wrong decision is probably worse.

Eventually the market will come back into equilibrium and deals will get done.

Until then we've got the World Cup, Wimbledon, The Ashes. All we need is for the sun to shine and everything will be alright.

Chris

Property and People

In my experience property is fairly simple, its people who make it complicated.

My aim as an agent or advisor is to try and find the line of least resistance so that the deal can get done.

Give me a call if there is something on this web site that interests you.

Chris

More of everything

Since the snowy first week of January when nothing of any consequence happened at all I have definitely seen an increase in new instructions, an increase in enquiries and most gratifying of all, an increase in deals being done.

I am not about to predict that everything in the garden is rosy because I believe that 2010 will be very challenging, but I do think there are signs of improvement in the market, which I, for one, am grateful for.

"Snow" use grumbling

Christmas is over and the New Year has started. The snow is falling making travel difficult although it is lovely to look at from my office window which overlooks open countryside.

The political parties have started the phony war leading up to the eventual election although I am not convinced that any of them really know how to sort out the current mess.

There is no doubt in my mind that the downturn is worse than those that I have experienced previously. Even the Miners Strike which affected South Yorkshire particularly badly in the 1980's didn't seem quite as bad as this.

In the meantime we all have to earn a living and in my case it is trying to do the best I can for my clients with property.

I am hopeful that we can work through the difficulties. Whilst it sometimes feels like three steps forward and two back I suspect that this is the way it will be for some time to come.

Deals are still being done. I have had a couple of good successes recently which buck the general trend and this offers hope going forward into the New Year.

May I wish all readers a Happy New Year and the best of luck for 2010.

Chris