A SLOWDOWN in the property market has led to a stand-off between some sellers and potential buyers, according to a Martel Maides director. Keith Enevoldsen (pictured) said the turnover of property transactions had slowed recently, but so far prices remain unaffected.
This has led, he said, to buyers waiting expectantly for vendors to drop their price, but vendors are refusing to do so, hoping prices will hold or go up again.
‘Until one side or the other becomes more realistic, there is an element of a stand-off,’ said Mr Enevoldsen. He said this was a natural reaction to a slower market and blamed the credit crunch as one factor.
He said that was partly because of banks tightening their lending terms and partly because buyer confidence had been affected.
Scare stories of UK house buyers going into negative equity would have put off local people who might otherwise feel ready to make a move, he said.
‘People are hesitating, waiting for six months and seeing what happens, being cautious.’
Swoffers director Shauna Clapham agreed with Mr Enevoldsen.
‘The number of sales on the local market is down about 25%,’ she said.
This figure is not far off one which was included in the Treasury and Resources quarterly bulletin, which said transactions in housing were reduced by 30% in the first quarter 0f 2008 compared to Q4 2007, from 269 sales to 187.
Mrs Clapham said she feels there is a general lack of urgency in the market these days.
‘After years of racing, things have slowed.
‘However, for anything unusual or unique on the market, there will always be a buyer because we live on an island with limited land and new properties are mostly just new houses on a clos, not farm buildings or cottages.’
She anticipated that people might start treating houses more like homes again and less like objects to trade and make money out of.
She also agreed with Mr Enevoldsen’s comment that younger potential buyers might feel unsure of the market because they have never known a property slump before.
He said: ‘They might have assumed that you just buy a house and it goes up in
value. But those of us who are longer in the tooth know the opposite can happen.’
Comparing the Guernsey and UK markets, he said local prices do rise steadily when the UK market rockets.
But when the UK market dips, Guernsey’s tends to plateau.
‘Because we don’t rush up as fast we have less far to fall,’ he said.
* In the States on Wednesday Guernsey’s Treasury minister Charles Parkinson announced that income from document duty had fallen due to the recent slowdown in the property market.
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