House prices continue their upward trend as buyer demand surges following the government’s decision to extend the stamp duty holiday!
Buyer demand continues its upward trend the level of supply of new properties continues to be constrained.
With this imbalance, we are seeing the time taken from going ‘For Sale’ to ‘Sales Agreed’ decreased to an astonishing 12-18 days, from an average of usually 3-5 weeks.
The appetite for completing a sale before the stamp duty holiday threshold is tapered to £250,000 at the end of June shows no signs of slowing down. In fact buyer demand since January is up around 11-13%, this is the same level for the whole of 2020.
All these factors collectively contribute to the average house price index across the UK now standing at 4.1%, compared to 1.8% the same time last year.
Houses, particularly three bedroom properties appear to be the most appealing, attracting the most interest.
This is closely followed by maisonettes which offer some sort of outside space/garden. It certainly does appear several lockdowns have made people reconsider their requirements, outdoor space tops the list.
As lockdown has started to ease and vaccinations continue to be rolled out to the wider population, we expect more supply coming onto the market.
Valuation enquires and increased, suggesting potential vendors will start to feel more comfortable to opening their homes for viewings.
If you are already on the market, we feel it is crucial to have your property under offer by the end of April at the latest, to meet the June deadline.
As we approach May we can envisage a time similar to February, where levels of interest, viewings started to declined.
In the longer outlook, the performance of the housing market remains linked to the health of the wider economy. The pace and extent of recovery are still highly uncertain.
The biggest advantage an advisor like us can offer is the benefit of experience. Having operated through several market cycles over the last 20 years we have learned to adopt a long-term view, especially when faced with a crisis.
Lastly we would like to wish you all a very happy Easter, it may not be like years gone, but with the rule of 6 being reinstated hopefully you will be able to see friends and family.
As always if you wish to discuss any points raised in this article, do not hesitate to contact me Harsh Shah on 020 8426 0631 or email harrow@hiltonandfox.com
