The festive period sees everything ramped up: from shopping and spending to eating and drinking, everything seems to move that bit quicker and go that bit further. The same applies for buying properties and securing mortgages over the festive season.
In December, there’s a huge rush for people looking to move house to complete their move before Christmas and the New Year. Whether it’s because they want to enjoy Christmas in their new place, or start fresh in a new property for the year ahead, people become fixated on wanting to finalise before the festivities begin.
Last year, Zoopla predicted that house sales would hit the highest level in a decade before the 2020 festive break. They found that asking prices for properties rose another 3.5% in October 2020 – this was the highest in nearly three years. Zoopla expected 140,000 sales in December, the highest since December 2006.
The same is expected to happen this year with people rushing to close their property deals and get their mortgage applications approved.
How to Make Properties Complete Faster
A lot of the ability to complete fast relies on the solicitors of the buyer and the seller of the property, with a large amount of legals and administration to run through, this is what often holds up the completion of a sale from going through.
In addition, any new information on a potential purchase can delay things, from issues with the property, the road or different housing laws that can make the completion take longer than it needs to.
A huge issue is someone falling out of the property chain, since they no longer wish to purchase one of the properties in the mix. This can cause an entire deal to collapse or a spurred effort to try and find a new buyer. This is sometimes where using bridging finance can be useful since it turns someone into a cash buyer and it means that the property can be completed.
Some buyers have last minute issues with their mortgage, whether it is losing their job or their mortgage offer expiring – causing the deal to be delayed.
What Happens Next?
Of course if the property completion does not happen this side of the year, it is simply carried over until January.
At this point, the UK sees a huge wave of new enquiries for construction work, including bespoke kitchens, conservatories, loft conversions and garage conversions.
At the moment, with covid restrictions being introduced again, there will certainly be an increased demand for home and garden office pods as the British public is asked to work remotely and avoid commuting into offices.