Reasons to be Cheerful about the Kent Property Market in 2023

The newspapers are full of predictions of a national property crash.

The broadcast media are pumping out doom, gloom and not much else about the housing market prospects in 2023.

And let’s not even get started with the internet ‘experts’ on social media and the local ‘pub professors’ who are forecasting the end of the world (sometimes literally) but with little to no evidence.

At times like this, it’s worth remembering (and paraphrasing) a line from Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem If.

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…”

Yes, we’re in a recession, and many of us are up against it financially, but there are reasons to remain positive and calm about your property prospects in 2023.

Here’s why we believe Kent homeowners and landlords should be optimistic as we enter the new year.

1)      It’s not 2008. When the credit crunch happened, banks and financial institutions stopped lending money. This is not the case now, which means things won’t be anywhere near as bad as they were for the property market back then. And although the criteria is getting stricter, people can still get mortgages.

2)      Experts can help. The job of the media is to get your attention and keep it. And bad news does that much more than good news, meaning coverage of impending catastrophes is a media mainstay. So, our advice is, for an informed opinion on what’s really happening in the local property market, speak to us and/or an independent mortgage adviser.

3)      Rental demand remains. If you are a landlord, it’s worth remembering that the rental market in Kent is incredibly strong with plenty of demand, and a recession is unlikely to change that based on our past experiences. Many savvy landlords are looking to make the most of this demand by adding to their portfolios.

4)      People are moving. The market has slowed a little, but that’s mainly because it’s been 100mph since the first lockdown lifted in 2020. And despite the political turmoil and global uncertainty, people are still looking for new places to call home. We’re seeing people wanting to downsize, upsize and sell to release equity in their homes. When you add this to the perennial reasons of death, divorce and debt, you can understand that the Kent market hasn’t (and won’t) grind to a juddering halt.

5)      Adios awful agents. Tougher financial times are bad news for sub-standard estate agents. This is because of several reasons: A) It’s more of a challenge to get the best possible price for a home during a downturn. B) The quality of a property’s marketing matters, and bad agents don’t invest in this. C) Overvaluations, often used as a tactic in a busy market, stand out as misleading, which 99.9% of the time is what they are. A good, experienced agent won’t overvalue, will keep investing in marketing and knows how to maximise your home’s potential selling price.

So, our message to homeowners and landlords across Kent is to remember Mr Kipling’s (the poet, not the baker) advice.

If you want an expert opinion on what’s really happening in the housing market locally, give us a call today.

Thanks for reading, and wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous 2023.