OLIVER GILL FROM KIRKHAM PROPERTY GIVES AN UPDATE ON THE CURRENT PROPERTY MARKET IN SADDLEWORTH.
This time last year we were in a slump following the fallout from the mini-budget and asking prices had fallen in October, November and December. Continued interest rate hikes took the Bank of England base rate to 3.5% before the year was out.
Predictions of a levelling off around 4.5% in the middle of 2023 missed the mark and whilst the current 5.25% rate has stayed the same across two announcements, inflation remains above target at 4.6%. It looks like a difficult balance between bringing down inflation and keeping us out of recession.
The housing market throughout the year has returned to a more normal pace which won’t come as a surprise to anyone. The spring market took time to get moving and whilst we have seen lower transaction volumes the market has fared far better than most industry experts predicted.
Buyers are understandably more cautious given both the economic situation and current mortgage rates and sellers for the most part have a more realistic expectation of house prices. Competitively priced homes are still selling well in the low to mid-market range with the higher end of the market remaining a much tougher place to sell.
It isn’t all doom and gloom if you want to sell an expensive home in the area, at the time of going to press there were 48 available properties for sale in Saddleworth over £600,000 with an additional 17 currently sold subject to contract. Clearly not a record number albeit it shows market movement at the higher end.
More recently, November new to market asking prices fell by 1.7% which is the largest in 5 years. We usually see price falls on new instructions slightly at this time of year and interestingly asking prices are just 3% below the yearly peak in May even taking November falls into consideration.
Property stock shortages which have been seen over the pandemic years are starting to come to an end. Similar levels of available properties compare closely to those seen in 2019 which was considered to be a normal market if there is such a thing. It’s another bad year for tenants as the rental market shows no sign of slowing down with a shortage of good property on the rental market locally.
Rents are up again this year by around 5% and predictions show similar expectations for 2024.
To enquire about Kirkham property services, please call Oliver and his team on 01457 810076 or call in to the office on High Street, Uppermill
You must be logged in to post a comment.