Nationwide Building Society recently published their house price survey which revealed that UK prices fell by 3.8% in July 2023, which marked the biggest annual drop since 2009.
But whilst July marked the fourth month in a row that the cost of a home has fallen and of course there has been an increase in mortgage rates from 0.10% in March 2020 to 5.25% in August 2023 – we need to keep things in perspective.
Strong economic indicators
House prices go down as well as up and it’s worth remembering that after the post-lockdown boom, there was always going to be some balancing out. Obviously, mortgage rate rises are having an effect, but as long as unemployment is low, there is still some wage growth and inflation starts to fall, the market shake out, that many were predicting, is unlikely to happen at the moment.
What we are seeing instead, is buyers opting for smaller properties that they can afford, as they are not interested in paying inflated asking prices. In addition, sellers are reducing prices pre-emptively to get ahead of the market, rather than slicing off thousands in response to a low offer.
Resilient housing market
Helen Checketts, Solicitor, Residential Property team said. “Whilst house prices have fallen for four consecutive months, each drop has been of less than 0.5%. This indicates that the housing market is continuing to show resilience in spite of tough economic conditions.”
Helen continued. “It’s impossible to know how much higher the Bank of England will push rates but if rates continue to rise, the nation’s homebuyers may start to struggle, as increased sensitivity around asking prices starts to become the norm.”
Helen concludes. “At Alsters Kelley, we are not experiencing a big drop when it comes to conveyancing. Transaction numbers still remain higher than pre-pandemic levels. The pressure caused by the stamp duty holiday is now eased and transaction completion times have sped up. Both buyers and sellers seem to be very quick at dealing with queries and searches are coming back quite speedily too.”
Getting your property sale ready
If you are a seller we recommend getting the legal side ready to go before you have found a buyer. This means that you are ready to go without delays as soon as you have a purchaser. This will not only speed up the transaction time but also maximise your opportunity to complete. We offer a free service to help you to get ready for your buyer.
Free initial meeting for support and advice
At Alsters Kelley Solicitors, we aim to help make your property transaction as quick and as stress free as possible. And thanks to our network of offices covering Coventry, Leamington, Nuneaton, Stratford-upon-Avon and Southam we are very accessible too. For timely and quality property purchase and sales advice and support, please contact Helen Checketts on 02477 710239, or email helen.checketts@alsterskelley.com.
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Helen Checketts
Helen’s role is to assist individuals with a wide variety of property transactions.
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02477 710239
helen.checketts@alsterskelley.com