Leave it to the professional estate agents in 2015

According to a recent report by the Central Bank of Malta, residential property prices increased by 8.9% during the second quarter of 2014, a third consecutive quarter increase in property prices. This is according to the Maltese Central Banks advertised property price Index. Though this way of calculation of property prices may not be amongst the most accurate methodologies it is a way to review pricing trends on a regular basis and is a way an outsider of the industry may calculate property prices. Going forward in 2015, it is expected that the real estate industry will receive consistent data from the competent authorities. In reality, prices are usually listed at an average of 15% – 20% overpriced through the average estate agent whereas when an owner undertakes the challenge of selling their own home without the assistance of an estate agency we find that very often this difference is far greater. The overpricing is usually realised at a very late stage when the homeowner hasn’t sold their home within a matter of six months or more. More often than not, this is when they contact an estate agency for their assistance or reduce their price if they were listed with an estate agency already. In many cases the homeowner would have given up on their dream to make a mega profit and finance their new home. Often, some homeowners take the plunge and purchase a new home realising later that they wont be able to sell their old home for the price they wished for.

Our statistics on overpricing is based on a large sample of property sales concluded by our agency over the last forty-eight months where we track original listing price, last listing price and the finally concluded price that is written in the promise of sale.   Ever since we have been tracking these property prices we have endeavoured to educate the public and our homeowners to be realistic and market their home as close to market price or else do not expect to sell their home within a reasonable amount of time. We have learnt from the best in that we have created training programmes based on industry experts to improve the standard of our own property listings in Malta, setting a standard of our own.

The amounts of heartache and time wasting some homeowners experience by trying to sell their own home or taking ill-advised recommendations is really an injustice. Unfortunately due to not having any kind of standard or national statistics one can not compare prices with their own to at least take a benchmark.The lack of information though is no excuse or obstacle we have not overcome.

Fortunately after envisioning this trend we endeavoured into developing our Exclusive Listing Programme, which is selling properties within fifty-five days, as per our latest average calculation, which was at the end of November 2014. The Exclusive Listing programme is a innovative way of listing your property, which has not only improved the way our estate agents look at listing homes but it has improved our average listing price vs selling price from 18% in 2010 to 10.5%, which is below the European Industry average.

Those homeowners that have listed their property through our Exclusive Listing programme have benefited by selling their home within a reasonable time frame as well have in most cases received top of market value. This formula is a marketing exercise which is undertaken by ourselves however under the strict terms that the homeowner is motivated and will sell their home. This is mainly due to the infrastructure, which we have built and invested in to ensure that the property is provided the necessary exposure and that the home is priced correctly.

It is great to note that prices are increasing and that the market is still buoyant however one must be geared up for 2015 if they want to sell their home. It does not mean that your home has just increased in value. Do not be fooled.

Out of the over 18, 000 some properties listed with estate agencies how many will sell? Did you know that only 40% of homeowners sell their home with estate agencies? So really, how many properties are listed on the market? In any kind of market you have to be prepared in the best way possible to sell your property. I’d say, leave it to the professionals in 2015.