Amidst all the economic doom and gloom, Chief investment officer of ING, Ian Whittock, told the 124 attendees at their annual investor seminar that the current property markets represented the investment ‘opportunity of the decade’ (source: property week).
During the seminar he went on to say that though on the surface things may not seem all that good for the housing market, there was less risk in the market now than there was 18 months ago. He is of the opinion that if you are sitting on cash reserves, then there is a brilliant opportunity waiting if one can be bold.
So is he right?
Well, as everybody has seen in the press, radio and television commentary, prices have taken a tumble over the last 12-14 months. In many places prices are already at least 15% lower that what they were 12 months ago.
However I don’t feel that buying at the current prices represents the ‘opportunity of the decade’ unless you can get further significant discounts. It is very likely that prices will continue to fall in the coming months and therefore if you want to invest now, then you must be negotiating a further 15%-20% discount on current market values.
This means that your discounts from the peak property prices could be as high as 40% if you are able to negotiate your price down. Now that would certainly represent fantastic investment opportunities!
Think about it, if somebody had offered you a property 12 months ago that was 40% off the current market price, would your have thought you were getting a bargain?
I am sure you would ;-).
