With uniforms disappearing from shops faster than you can say “Back to School”, our unforgettable and glorious Olympic summer is almost behind us. For a while most of us forgot about the country’s economic woes as we became more interested in how Team GB was doing in London. For a few heady weeks, life suddenly seemed good and optimism filled the air. And I think we all reminded ourselves what a nice feeling that was. After all, this recession has been here for 5 years now, since the summer of 2007 when everything suddenly stopped dead, particularly in the property world.

But 5 years is a long time. Many people have had to put off things they were planning to do with their lives, and there now seems to be a growing feeling that people are simply fed up with waiting. Most of us just want to get on with living our lives today, not tomorrow. Despite the ongoing recession, there are strong signs that the local property market is definitely stirring. Enquiries are rising. More people are viewing. More offers are being made and more sales are being tied up.

Here in the Wyre Forest we have seen more houses sold in 2012 than in any of the last 5 years. And numbers are what the property market is all about. More enquiries means more viewers. More viewers means more offers. More offers means more sales. More house sales will drive the wider economy, in turn giving more people more confidence. Confidence is really what drives the property market. It is all about buyers being confident about the future and sellers being confident of both finding a buyer and then finding another property to buy at an affordable price.

But it’s not all good news. Whilst the latest statistics tell us that property affordability is the best it’s been for over a decade, they also tell us that mortgage lending is down yet again. This is a paradox. Clearly the resurgent activity seen in the Wyre Forest area has not been the case across the country as a whole, and cannot be taken as absolute evidence that the corner has been turned for good.

We are probably not quite done with this economic downturn just yet, although prices across the country have remained broadly static over the past couple of quarters - and will probably do so for a few more quarters still to come. But after that, who knows? Mortgages will no doubt become easier to obtain and more and more people will then want to enter the property market. And that is precisely the wrong time to do so - because a better time is right now.

Now there are more options and more opportunities for those in a good position to buy. Now there are some great choices in the market. Now there is less competition. Now there is more time. Now there are deals to be done. Now is the time to buy before Christmas and now is the time to get settled before the property cycle begins its climb.

The current market really is a time of great opportunities.