Early-year movers most likely to benefit from Stamp Duty savings and stable market.

As the festive season comes to an end and before you start thinking about booking that holiday – anyone thinking of moving house this year should start looking sooner rather than later.

At this time of year, house price growth slows to a halt, committed sellers have realistic price expectations and with the added bonus of Stamp Duty savings (£4,500 on a £275,000 house) and maybe as much as £480 per year on “typical” mortgage repayments (compared to January 2013), could well help to make this a market that is good for both buyers and sellers alike. The ideal conditions for anyone looking to move up the property ladder – and helpful to many who might look to downsize.

From a seller’s perspective, it may not seem the perfect time to be putting your property on the market but with the scarcity of competition from other sellers and the uncertainty of how things might “pan-out” after the election, it certainly makes sense to at least get up-to-date with the value of your house and get advice on how best to achieve the best price.

Now the old Stamp Duty “dead-spots” – around £250,000 and £500,000 have been removed and replaced by a fairer graduated system, we predict that many properties around these old thresholds will sell for more money than they might have achieved under the old system.

“Two bites of the cherry”.

If you are looking to sell and buy again, let us know what you are looking for, as at this time of year, not every property for sale is advertised or on the internet. Many off-market deals are agreed in January and February and you may not even have to go to market fully with your own.

Even if you’re planning to move later in the year, there is definitely merit in testing the market early and maybe having “two bites of the cherry” – Buyers may well be happy to wait, putting you in a great position to strike a deal when the house of your dreams comes to the market. If a sale doesn’t happen, you will have everything already in place for that “second bite of the cherry” in the Spring.

Roger Wilkinson

Wilkinson Grant & Co