Yahoo News Property clinic experts ask has Spring sprung for the Island's housing market?
With around seventy years of joint experience in the property market, estate agents Keith Trigg and Simon Meek are behind our Isle of Wight County Press Property Clinic.
This month, they ask if Spring really has sprung for the Island's property market?
I am sure we all agree Spring is a magical time: Leaves on the trees unfurl and swathes of bluebells appear in our woodlands.
More importantly, it hails the start of long-awaited sunnier days and warmer temperatures and we all tend to feel much better and more motivated.
This sentiment is often felt in the property market where, historically, activity increases at this time of year.
It means more viewings and a commensurate uplift in house sales.
But can this still be said for Spring 2024?
There are indeed increased numbers of for sale boards and those that scream SOLD.
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According to the property website, Rightmove, there have been almost 1,000 properties sold (subject to contract) across the Island since the beginning of the year.
This shows that homeowners are feeling more comfortable about making plans to move in 2024 and more buyers feel, perhaps, they have waited long enough to take the plunge.
Although these signs are clear, they have been tempered to some degree by the volatility of mortgage rates.
Now those historically low interest rates are in our rear view mirror, the current relationship between mortgage rates and activity on the housing market appears to be that the higher the rates the less attractive it is to buy and move.
This push and pull was clearly noticeable towards the end of 2023 and in the first month or so of 2024, when rates were being cut by lenders and the market rallied.
Since then, unfortunately, some lenders have increased their rates, albeit marginally.
In some very recent cases, rises have been as little as only 0.1 per cent for fixed rate deals.
However, moving forward, there is a shared view that The Bank of England is poised to reduce interest rates later in the year, likely leading to lenders feeling more comfortable to reduce borrowing rates again.
And so, like the arrival of new buds in the Spring, the cycle begins again.
Whether mortgage rates reduce significantly, if this happens, remains to be seen.
I fear any future reductions may not be the panacea we would like.
Those of us in the housing market would prefer the comfort blanket of having inflation fully under control and a short to medium-term promise of achievable mortgage rates.
That way, buyers and sellers would be able to move a lot more freely.
