Nick Churton of Mayfair Office looks at the property market with spring just around the corner.

The property market can sometimes seem a bit like the weather. Some days it is fine and sometimes it is rainy. But some days it really does not know what it is doing. The market is a bit like that at the moment. Just when it looks as if there is no momentum there is a surge of interest and then as quickly as it comes it stops - just like an April shower.

So in this pre-general election period buyers and sellers seem to lurch between wanting to do something but at the same time worrying about doing it. It is almost as if they know that there are so many factors are in place that make buying a new home favourable but that there are others which could in the future weigh against such a big decision.

So the answer for some seems to be not to do anything at all. But for many that is not the answer. Parents with young children may need to move before the autumn term for schooling reasons – or rather good-schooling reasons. Then there are the work-related movers and those whose lives have reached a stage where selling and/or buying is a matter of necessity rather than choice.

But it is hard to think of a period in the past seven or eight years when there has been a better time to be propelled into a sale or purchase. With low interest rates and others holding back for many this will be a good time to make a move. You probably won’t pick up a bargain. It is a hard truth but bargains are seldom to be found in property – would you sell your home at a bargain price? - and this is particularly so at the moment when there are fewer properties on the market than for several years.

So if you are going to buy or sell in the coming months when the weather in the property market seems fickle, as long as you take some sensible precautions – just like wearing a mac or taking an umbrella in changeable weather - there is no real reason to get wet. In fact by the time all the others come out from wherever they have been sheltering you will be home and dry.