Have you looked at house price stats recently?
I have, in fact I’m always looking at them. It’s what I do!
Here’s what I’ve noticed:
- Yes, in London house prices are going down. They were always going to have to… prices are HIGH. Uncertainty has meant that buyers and sellers are moving away from the market. So if you want to sell your highly priced property, you are going to have to offer a deal to get a buyer interested
- Also there are more businesses changing strategy in London and the suburbs and also more Europeans living there, so it’s where changes will be felt the hardest
- South of the M4 corridor prices have stagnated. Again… there’s not much room for price increase with already high prices! I think it will probably stay flat for some time to come… this is also the same for property prices just outside the M25
- Uncertainty hitting hardest in the areas closest to potential chaos
- Further North BREXIT doesn’t seem to be as much of a concern.
- North of the M4 prices are rising… at a faster pace the further north you go. Quite rightly so! They are the cheapest areas to buy in and for some towns, they’ve not seen price rises in excess of 2008 levels yet. So there is definitely room for growth. Thats a good thing, especially for homeowners who need to make their money back!
Buying in the south… you can negotiate – hard. Buying in the north, be prepared to go up to full ask (although if you don’t ask, you don’t get, so you can still start low!).
This year the change will be in rents… which is an awesome thing for remortgages (you know, with the stringent stress tests). With the tenant letting fee ban coming into force on June 1st, Landlords will have to pick up this cost. To reduce the impact on their pockets, landlords will be looking to up rents. The more rental income you get the more you can borrow!
That’s what the market is looking like right now… how’s your local area holding up?
Natasha
