After weeks of near continual rain, are the dank conditions affecting the housing market for buying, selling and viewing of property?
Every year we have something, some years it’s snow and believe it or not, the rain is preferable, says Brian Dempsey, partner at DNG.
“While in photos, the rain can make the interiors come out really well”, he admits, “it’s a problem”.
There are people who won’t come out to view on a wet Saturday, he says. “We may have been down by quantity but not by quality.”
“While it feels like day 176 of the rain, and still no sign of it stopping, we had a good run in January,” says Graham Murray, regional director of Sherry FitzGerald.
"Homes that had been photographed in November, before the Christmas trees were put up, and were prepped, were ready to go in early January. Those homes have gone very well.”
Murray says the first month of the year has been good for apartments and townhouse stock, the type of properties with small gardens or balconies, less affected by the poor weather.
“In those instances, we use a nice internal as a lead shot.”
"What it has affected in terms of housing stock is family homes with good gardens.
"Even in the instances where vendors had exterior photography taken last summer, they don’t want to bring it to market as physically they still look below par and they don’t want to create a wrong sense of this feature", Murray explains.
“They also don’t want would-be buyers walking through the garden and then traipsing through the house.”
This may explain the lack of three and four-bedroom homes currently listed.
Despite the weather, figures remain solid, says Dempsey.
“We’re level pegging with last year, with more stock on the Dublin market. Last year it was about 2,500. Today, Thursday, February 12th, it stands at just over 3,500 on MyHome.
"Last June and July we hit the 4,000 homes mark in Dublin for the first time since Covid. It’s quite a healthy number this early in the year, but not a healthy number yet for buyers.”
Is there a silver lining to all the precipitation?
“When the viewing numbers are down, buyers get more of the agents attention,” Dempsey explains.
This helps sellers too.
While January was strong for Sherry FitzGerald, the weather, which has not let up for five or six weeks, is definitely affecting this month Murray says.
“It is slower. The problem is a lack of new stock coming through in February. But when there is a lack of houses on the market, there are more people viewing.
"The wet weather has been going on so long that people are getting on with it and viewing properties.”
Dempsey is optimistic. He says that for many sellers it really is only the start of the season.
“While some choose St. Patrick’s Day or Easter, for me, Valentine’s Day is when the market is alive and open.”
He also believes the announcement last December by Bank of Ireland to bring in bridging will help matters.
“If they bring in that we will see more owners of large, single-occupancy homes moving.”
He has several would-be clients in this space.
Structured like a traditional bridging loan, the bank’s new product, Trade Down, is designed to support customers moving to a smaller property.
In a release last December, it stated that, “funds released will enable the outright purchase of the new property in advance of the sale of the current home.
"Both properties will serve as security, with the sale of the existing property clearing the borrowing and any interest accrued within 12 months.”
The maximum borrowing amount at drawdown will be 60% of the current valuation, and the loan rate is 7% variable. Customers wishing to register an interest in this pilot can call 0818 200434 between 9am and 5pm.
Does sunshine really sell? In summer, the weather can be too nice, he caveats. “That causes a drop in viewings too. People are at the beach.”
