After 18 months of the harshest trading conditions in the UK property market for 60 years, Nicholas Rooke of GW Finn, dares to look forward and see a great opportunity.

It seems we are constantly being served up with ‘expert’ opinions about how much further the property market will drop, when the market will turn and how long any period of recovery will take. From newspaper and broadcast journalists to eminent economists, they all have something to say.

Even one or two estate agency research departments have jumped in with their two penny-worth. The trouble is, none of them seems to agree. This is hardly surprising as not one is a clairvoyant and no-one has ever encountered this sort of crisis before. So nobody really knows.

But with so many people conjecturing different things – and by the law of averages one eventually will get it right – forecasting seems a rather fruitless exercise. Like polls before elections, perhaps it is best just to wait and see.

We local property experts do know a thing or two. We know, in the end, the market and prices will recover. We also have a bit of a feel for how things are in our own markets, and this helps us to give timely advice that many of these other commentators can’t. So here are some things to consider.

Now is the time to buy property because...

Interest rates are falling and could yet go to their lowest ever.

Prices have fallen dramatically – they could fall further but it’s never smart to wait until they are rising.

There is so much choice in the market and it will be years before there is again.

Financial institutions are just recovering from their credit difficulties and are beginning to offer mortgages again.

It’s a great time to move up market as prices have come down further pro rata.

Time for a new-build: If ever there was a time builders and developers will take a low offer for a quick sale this is it.

Buy now, not when things have changed for the better. Then it will be too late to take full advantage of current opportunities.

Now is the time you have always dreamed of – when you are ahead of the curve. The time that you know it’s right to buy: when you can make the smart move while many others don’t.

There may be a further fall in property values and the upturn may be months away, but if you are in property for the medium or long term the future benefits should heavily outweigh any short-term loss.

Now is not the time to buy if you have to borrow too much money or are worried about your job or the financial wellbeing of your family. Otherwise the time to buy property is now.