State of the Business Sales Market 15th to 30th April 2013

After a positive start in terms for enquiries for April it has dropped off in the later part of the month.  At the time of writing this report I’m lost for explanation as to the drop in the enquiries for late April, keep in mind we are only in the second day of week 18.  On a positive note when totalling the number of enquiries, whilst April is down on March it is still higher than February and head and shoulders above April 2012 by comparison.  It would appear the level of enquires are taking 3 steps forward then 2 steps back. 

I feel like a broken record when I’m asked “how is the business sales market?”  My usual response is along the lines that it is getting better but is improving at a snail’s pace.  I’ve indicated in earlier reports that I felt that the election is not going to do any favours in helping the business sales market, as it adds a level of uncertainty.  I took the opportunity to ask some other professional business brokers about their thoughts on the election impact, the response was pretty uniformed that the pending election was putting the brakes on the business sales market. 

Consumer confidence continues to rise as we see improvement in the housing market and other areas of the economy, but in the business sales market the general uncertainty surrounding the pending election takes the cream off the top, as some prospective new business owners/buyers appear to take a cautious wait and see approach.

I like to take a positive approach as I believe the negativity (sometimes miss-guided or misinterpreted) that appears in the media does little to help the cause.  Thus I feel it is important to work on the notion that business sales are improving and help try and restore confidence in the market.