OnTheMarket: Sellers have a ‘limited timeframe’ of focused buyers

A rush to secure low-rate mortgage offers helped properties sell faster last month, OnTheMarket (OTM) claims.

Data from the portal shows 60% of properties reached the sold subject to contract (SSTC) stage within 30 days of first being advertised for sale last month, compared with 56% in October 2021.

OTM said that is a percentage not seen since June and is higher than the 53% recorded in September.

It comes as the portal’s latest sentiment index found buyer and seller confidence remains high.

OTM found that 74% of buyers in the UK were confident that they would purchase a property within the next three months, down from 75% in September.

Meanwhile, 82% of sellers in October were confident that they would sell within the next three months, up from 79% a month before.

Jason Tebb, chief executive of OTM, suggested the market is ripe for sellers with determined buyers looking to lock-in relatively cheaper mortgage deals.
 

He said: “Estate agents providing appraisals to would-be sellers are in the strong position of being able to advise that rather than waiting until spring to put their property on the market, they may wish to take advantage of this limited timeframe where there is a pool of focused buyers with mortgage offers who are keen to proceed. 

“Some stability has returned to the market with the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister and the reversal of many of the mini-Budget measures. 

“However, mortgage rates remain significantly higher than they were this time last year – the days of sub-1 per cent fixed-rate mortgages are long gone. 

Tebb said challenges remain in the market and added that the coming months are likely to be tough as the Bank of England raises rates further in an effort to bring inflation down. 

He said: “Encouragingly, however, the forecast for where rates might peak has fallen as some of the market turmoil has dissipated. 

“Rock-bottom interest rates aren’t normal or sustainable and the new norm, which is slowly starting to establish itself, is beginning to look a lot like the old one.”