SUMMER is now in full swing with schools having broken up for half term and many packing for, if not already on, their holidays and getaways.

For some people, the last thing they are thinking about is putting their houses on the market or looking to buy.

Traditionally mid-summer and winter are thought to be bad times to sell houses as kids break up from school in the summer, and as for winter, Christmas is only around the corner (only 145 days to go by the way).

It is true that August is a quieter month in terms of properties coming onto the market and also buyers registering with us but this doesn’t mean the market comes to a halt.

In August 2017, the amount of first time buyers, cash buyers and buyers with mortgages purchasing property was up from the previous month according to UK HPI (UK House Price Index).

The sales volume for England in August 2017 and August 2016 was up by two per cent from the respective previous months.

According to Rightmove, the time taken in June and July 2017 to agree a sale was only a day more than the average timeframe to sell throughout the year with August taking only one day longer, on average.

If you decided to hold off on marketing until September, October or November, the average number of days until a buyer was found increases as we get closer towards the winter months.

Whilst spring is certainly the best time to sell according to the Home Owners Alliance, holding off until then might not be feasible or even possible, due to personal circumstances.

The market is active mostly all year round and whilst some people may be thinking about holding back on marketing, others will be seizing the opportunity of putting their house on the market and being in the spotlight due to less competition appearing in people’s house hunting searches.

If you wanted to discuss the market in more detail, please give myself or one of my colleagues a call who would be happy to provide a free valuation of your property and discuss your requirements.