Barlow Irvin’s Practice Principal, Gary Oxborough, recommends that you start your search for your new home immediately if you want to be in by Christmas!
I wrote a post last year about how I can’t believe it’s that time of year again and thought it was important to talk about it again, but maybe for slightly different reasons this time.
In our job, the children returning to school traditionally signifies the start of one of our busiest times of the year. We always find that we receive plenty of enquiries for house purchases with the aim of “being in by Christmas” (that’s the first time I’ve written the “C” word this year!) When we’re asked that question in September of years gone by, the answer was usually yes, but when we had the same question in November, then the answer has always been no. However, over the last year or two, the time taken to complete a house purchase has increased significantly from the normal 10-12 weeks. According to our stats, the current average time for a purchase to take place, from the date of the mortgage application to the date the purchase completes is 117 days, that is over 16 weeks! This means that an average purchase that starts today, won’t complete until 2023.
Of course, these figures are the average, so there are still some cases that complete quicker than that as well as some taking much longer if there are extra delays.
The housing market is still extremely buoyant at the moment and if you are considering buying a property, I would recommend that you start your search straight away and, as always, make sure you are as prepared as you can be. We can always help with those preparations, especially with the finances, so just get in touch when you are ready.
As a mortgage is secured against your home or property, it could be repossessed if you do not keep up mortgage repayments