Looking back at the year we can certainly describe it as ” interesting ” as far as the property market is concerned. We have gone through the Brexit vote without, as yet, much of the damage that was predicted by the remainers.

The thing that really has made a difference around our area is the Stamp Duty surcharge on second home purchases. This has placed an additional 3% on the cost of buying over and above the usual tax. It was intended to dampen the buy to let investors’ enthusiasm. It has certainly done that but the unintended consequence has been to place an extra burden on anyone buying another home and selling theirs at a later date. It is possible to claw this back if you sell within a given period but you still have to find the money in the first place. Buyers seem to be getting used to it and making adjustments to cope.

In the Cramlington property world we have managed to maintain our dominant position as the leading sales agent. Looking at the Zoopla statistics for the year, we are number one with over 25% of sales agreed in NE23 but interestingly when the figures are  adjusted to look at houses between £200,000 and £500,000 we have handled 50% of the sales. That’s a great achievement and one that we intend to repeat in 2017.

We are launching our Platinum Service in the New Year to cement our position and give our clients the opportunity to boost their prospects of selling for the best possible price with enhanced  Zoopla  premier listings, professional photos and full page colour adverts in The Guild Of Professional Estate Agents northern regional glossy magazine.

As local agents connected to the community, we can tell you that  its not just about selling houses.We have also been very busy advising on problems with shortening leasehold terms, having been inundated with enquiries from owners seeking advice and assistance on this subject. Our Cramlington Leasehold Information page has been well supported ( have a look if you haven’t already ) and we have managed to save many of you quite a bit of cash by advising how to challenge the often ludicrous prices being quoted by freehold companies.

We don’t charge for this advice, we’re just happy to help. We all live here and experience the same problems!

Please don’t wait to sort this out until you put your property on to the market. It can delay everything and cost you more.

Enjoy the Christmas break and we hope to be able to help you if you are thinking of moving in the New Year.

We are open between the holidays on 28, 29, 30th December.

As a matter of interest, Boxing Day is usually busy with property buyers looking at our website. Let us hope that it’s the same this year.