With the festive season (almost) in full swing, those with a finger on the pulse of the UK property market, will be using this time to reflect on what has arguably been a mixed bag for the sector.
As an authoritative voice for the Maidenhead property market, in paricular, the team at Braxton Estate Agents would like to use this end-of-year opportunity, to express their informed opinion on the current market trends - with particular focus on the predicted ‘slowdown’ of the market next year.
According to Geoff Tomlinson, Managing Director of Braxton ‘those interested and involved in the UK property market will understandably be feeling some trepidation as to what happens next, but this is something that a bigger-picture perspective does offer some reassurance on, as we look to the year ahead.’
'Looking firstly at the ‘drop’ in house prices recorded in the year to September, it should be noted that this owes somewhat to the overly-inflated average house prices for the previous year, when the rush to complete property purchases before the end of the Stamp Duty changes provided unprecedented momentum.'
From this stance, rural areas in particular could view the ‘downward trend’ as a simple reversal of extensive inflation caused by the ‘London exodus’ – a period which caused the greatest house price increases the market has ever seen.
Of course, there is an element of the current changes that are a short-term reaction to September’s economic turmoil, and the resultant rising mortgage rates, but overall… the average end-of-year asking price growth is only 0.8% lower than last year (5.6% vs 6.3% in 2021), which is encouraging news for those planning a near-future move.
Equally, a 2% decrease in UK house prices (as predicted by Rightmove) next year would only theoretically reverse some of the gains made during the last few years, to put the average property price back to pre-pandemic levels.
Furthering the ‘Reasons to be Optimistic’, Zoopla has also reported 40% more properties being added in the four weeks to 20th November, than during the same period in 2021. This has inevitably helped to remedy some of the shortage of housing stock blighting today's home-buyers, and ensured that the 'slowdown' in purchasing activity remains modest.
In summary:
While there is still some uncertainty around what wider economic pressures will mean for the 2023 property market, it is important to remember the context of the last few years when interpreting the often sensationalised media headlines. What the next year has in store, will inevitably come down to the Bank Rate’s trajectory, and how spending power is impacted by employment levels and adjustments to the Energy Price Guarantee next April, but at the present time, there are many reasons to be optimistic.