Now is a good time to invest in property as prices start to fall

If you time your property investment right you could potentially save thousands of pounds on your acquisition, as reflected by historical house price trends. 

When it comes to investing in property, you undoubtedly keep a keen eye on home prices, while also watching what other potential buyers are doing in order to time your property investment accurately. During quieter periods in the market, there is typically a smaller number of buyers, meaning competition is reduced and buyers have more bargaining power, particularly with sellers who are looking for a quick sale.

The November-January period generally tends to be a time when more prospective homebuyers are far more focused on Christmas and staying warm, as reflected by the typical market slow down in buying activity at this time of year.

Newly released house price data from Rightmove shows that the asking price of properties newly launched on the market has fallen by 1.1%, or £3,452, over the past month, and while this is lower than the average 1.8% decline usually recorded at this time of year, it still reinforces the fact that it is typically a buyer’s market at this time of year.

But while there is plenty of room for negotiation when it comes to property asking prices, cooling house prices look set to be short-lived, according to Rightmove’s director and housing market analyst, Miles Shipside, who points out that there is still a severe shortage of homes for sale.

“There are dangers to increasing demand unless this is matched by policies to improve supply, and more radical steps need to be taken to remove some of the barriers preventing more affordable homes to buy and rent from being built in the right locations,” he said.

Shipside acknowledges that around 2 million extra homes are required in the short-term to solve the existing housing shortage but accepts that is “not going to happen”, and so the immediate goal “must be to meet the current 230,000 annual target for housebuilding and to include more affordable options”.

Strutt & Parker’s home price forecast for 2017 and beyond suggests that home prices will rise across the country over the next five years.