Prices up, prices down, prices stable .. the newspapers are
full of good news, bad news and indifferent news about the Brit’s favourite
subject after the weather .. the property market. The thing is the UK does not
have one housing market. Instead, it is a patchwork of mini property markets
all performing in a different way. At
one end of the scale is London, which has seen average prices grow in the last
twelve months by a shade under 19% (and again that is an average because some
Borough’s in London have risen by 26%) whilst
in the land of Daffodils , by contrast, Wales only saw a 2% increase in
property values (although in the Merthyr Valleys they dropped by over 11%!).
Well we can’t ignore the rest of the UK, and we can’t forget that the Chancellor’s Stamp Duty reforms have polarised the London property markets above £1,000,000, because at the top end of the market, punitive Stamp Duty charges will dampen demand further. While the Bank of England warned of the growing London property price bubble in the Spring of 2014, talk of a recovery in other areas was premature. In 2015, irrespective of where you are in the UK, one story will unite the patchwork quilt of markets – really slow property value growth.
But what about Plymouth? Well, we haven’t had the December
figures from the Land Registry yet but within the last few months a review of housing
activity and prices appear to show that house price have neither risen nor fallen.
It’s worth bearing it in mind that most
sellers are also buyers - , so if you
need to take less for the house you want to sell, you won’t have to pay as much
for the one you want to buy ... and that is good news for everyone as most move
up market when they move. This is even better for landlord investors, as they
can bag a bargain as well.
The question you should be asking though is not only is what happening to property prices, but which price band exactly is selling? I like to keep an eye on the property market in Plymouth on a daily basis because it enables me to give the best advice and opinion on what (or not ) to buy in Plymouth.
If you look at Plymouth and split the property market into
four equalled sized price bands, with each price band having around 25% of the property,
from the lowest in value (the bottom 25% ) through to the highest 25% . It has emerged that over the last month (31 days
to be precise), in the lowest quartile, with
asking prices under £135k, 289
properties have come onto the market in Plymouth and 19.3% of them (56 properties)
have found a buyer and sold stc. The next quartile, between £135k-£180k, 295 properties
have come on to the market and 20% of
them (59 properties) have buyers. The next band with the £180k-£224k price
range has seen 173 properties coming on to the market, and 25.4% (44
properties) have a buyer. The most expensive 25%, the £224k plus range, has
seen 44 of the 269 properties that came on to the market find buyers (16.3%). Fascinating don’t you think?
The next three
months’ activity will be crucial in understanding which way the market will go
this year and I honestly believe we will not see any house price growth
or drops this side of the election. Election or no election, people will always
need a roof over their head and that is why the property market has weathered the storms of the Oil crisis in the 1970’s,
the 1980’s depression, Black Monday in the 1990’s, and latterly the Credit
Crunch together with the various house price crashes of 1973, 1987 and 2008.
And why? Because Britain’s
chronic lack of housing will increase house prices and prevent a post spike
crash. ... there is always a silver lining when it comes to the property
market!
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