Thank you to Harriet Kibbe as always for sharing insights with us on the local real estate market.
All the indicators suggest that now is a good time to buy… here are a few reasons why:
Prices:
These have come down considerably since the COVID rush to buy, and there are no forecasts that suggest further drops in listed prices in this area, although the volume of transactions has decreased.
Interest rates:
It is unlikely that the interbank lending rate, or SARON, will drop further, and waiting for it to do so may prove to be a bit too much of a gamble. Now is a good time to lock in a mortgage at 1.45% over 10 years, vastly different from the 3% some homeowners are saddled with from January / February 2024.
And if the above figures don’t seem convincing enough, last but certainly not least, the psychological aspect of selling in the autumn months cannot be underestimated.
End of year slump:
Owners whose properties have been on the market for a while and have not sold are more open to negotiating their asking price, with the tantalising prospect of starting the new year afresh, both on the personal front and the fiscal one.
The market is small in the Geneva area and those of us in the business know that it takes some time for buyers to realize that they will not have a great amount of stock from which to choose their future home and that some concessions will have to be made. I would highly recommend those concessions not being the purchase price or the mortgage rates!
