Marshalls Chartered Surveyors are the independent Chartered Surveyors with offices in Oxford, Didcot, Newbury, Reading, Swindon and Witney.

Marshalls cover Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire and adjoining areas of Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire and The Cotswolds.

Marshalls Chartered Surveyors are friendly, highly qualified professionals, experienced in all property types. We offer value for money, common sense surveys, written in plain English by experienced surveyors - not computers.

Our surveyors pride themselves on giving exceptional service and will take time to fully discuss your proposed purchase. 80% of people buying a home do not get a professional survey - most buyers rely on a mortgage valuation, undertaken by their lender. However, this is only intended to give an indication of the value of the property and whether it is a good risk for the lender. It is not an indication of the condition of the property nor does it provide advice to the purchaser on the action they need to take to remedy any defects. Many mortgage valuations are now undertaken on a drive-by or desk top basis and often the property is never physically viewed.

There are two different types of residential survey undertaken by Marshalls:

The Building Survey (often called The Structural Survey), which is suitable for all property types.

There is also the less detailed HomeBuyer Report, suitable for most property, from the late Victorian era to the present day. This type of survey is also ideal for flats and maisonettes.

In both cases, the property will be subject to a thorough and detailed survey of all areas. The survey reports are detailed, but written in plain English and richly illustrated in full colour with numerous photographs. We will telephone you with an initial verbal report outlining our survey findings. The written reports will follow within hours - we aim to send HomeBuyer reports the same day.

You probably won't commission many surveys in your life, so don't settle for second best - use Marshalls.

Market News
The RICS Housing Market Survey for May provides more evidence that activity in the housing market is continuing to pick up, albeit from historic lows. This is reflected in our key markets of Berkshire, Oxfordshire and The Cotswolds.

New buyer enquiries have now increased for seven months in a row; the net balance of surveyors seeing an increase rather than a decrease in buyer interest (compared with the preceding month) climbed in May to its best level since August 1999. The survey also contains more definitive signs that the rebound in enquiries is now feeding thorough into increased transactions.

Newly agreed sales, measured on a net balance basis, remained comfortably in positive territory for the third consecutive month and there was a further rise in the average number of sales per surveyor. Significantly, new instructions to sell property fell further in May. This series has now dropped in every single month over the last two years and, if anything, the picture appears to be becoming more acute.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the change in the rules governing Home Information Packs that were introduced at the start of April may be contributing to this situation. As a result, the average number of unsold properties on surveyors’ books continues to decline; the latest reading of 58.4 is the lowest since May 2004 and represents a 35% reduction compared with a year ago.

The combination of higher sales and lower inventories has pushed the sales to stock ratio firmer for the fifth consecutive month. This series, which effectively captures market slack, bottomed in December last year at 13.2% and has since climbed to 20.1%. That is the best reading since April 2008.

Meanwhile, the series measuring confidence in both the sales and price outlook improved further over the month. The net balance of surveyors expecting sales to increase rose from 35 to 40, an all-time high (October 1998). The price expectations series remains in negative territory but the -11 outturn compares with -42 in April.

London remains the strongest region with a reading of -14 followed by Scotland, the South East and the South West. Significantly, the increase in new buyer enquiries in May was most marked in London and the South East.