Is Essex set to buck the trend? ; The housing market pendulum continually swings, but it remains positive for Essex, with an interesting twist that could buck the trend, reports Zoe Napier at Zoe Napier Country & Equestrian

During 2010, we have seen a market like no other continual lowinterest rates (for the 20th consecutive month so far) have enabledproperty owners to balance their books in a somewhat difficultclimate. This has created a property shortage throughout much of theyear due to it often being more economically viable to stay put asopposed to moving. This alone has sustained house prices in ourregion.

It takes a brave person to buy in the months that report houseprices falling by 3.7%, as reported by the Halifax in October. Thesestatistics have not been so evident in the country property andequestrian market, subject to the property greeting the market atthe right price. Some of the price adjustments have been more acorrective measure than prices falling, which fail to be reported assuch.

Statistics are useful but are based on national figures and notniche markets like the higher end market. This is where good,experienced local knowledge from a property expert can be invaluablewhen buying or selling.

However, the general uncertainty of the sales market has createda huge upturn in the rental market. In real terms this means that wehave a significant 'bank' of people waiting to buy. Should thesefuture prospective buyers be waiting to hear word of an upturn thiscould well mean that they have missed the boat for the best buys,which happen to be sitting out there now to be negotiated upon andbought. Buyers are also naturally cautious about making offers onproperties that have been available for a considerable length oftime. This is where the scenario of waiting for buses appears, whenthe buses (buyers) all arrive at once. One person makes an offer andthis gives the next buyer the confidence to also make an offer andbefore you know it (and on several occasions this year alone) pricesin excess of the guide price have been achieved. The market is allabout confidence, being media lead.

Equally, due to national property reports, many potential sellersare waiting until the Spring to proceed with marketing, butstatistics over more recent years show that the first quarter of theyear for Essex in particular, is proving to be more lucrative thanthe second quarter of the year.

There are many reasons for this, not least of which is that Essexhas the most business owners in the country, probably some of thebest entrepreneurs, and many city workers who are already in theknowledge of their likely city bonus monies to be received (mostly)in January. It is hardly a surprise therefore, in this age of theinternet, that the Christmas period can be a prime time forbrowsers. Those thinking of selling should really considerpreparations for marketing prior to the festive season, in order toreach these potential browsers and the relevant media publicationsfor a January launch.

After 26 years in the Essex property industry, Zoe launched herown business in October 2010, based in Maldon, to cover the entirecounty of Essex and south Suffolk, specialising in property in thecountryside. She now promotes her company with the aptly namedwebsite www.inthecountryside.com