- It has been a decade since the last white Christmas, back when the average UK house price was £170,365. The average UK house price now stands at £244,513, a 44% increase.
Dreaming of a white Christmas?
Category Buying
Sales on the up and transaction times come down
Demand levels and sales activity remain buoyant in the UK housing market. Rightmove report agreed sales were up 50% in October, with properties selling (sold SSTC), in just 49 days, 15 days faster than a year ago.
Buyer demand across England was 49% higher year-on-year during the first six days of Lockdown 2.
The market is currently strongest in the higher price brackets. Year-on-year has been a 106% uplift in sales priced £400,000–£500,000 compared to just 16% for those priced £100,000–£200,000
Activity levels are also higher in the regions where average property prices are the highest, buyers set to make bigger stamp duty savings in these locations.
Source: Dataloft, Rightmove (October 2020 v October 2019)
NOW OPEN – Taylor Hill & Bond Havant branch…
Taylor Hill & Bond’s newest branch in Havant town centre is now open for business! Occupying a prominent location directly on the high street just a short walk from the train station this new branch has launched with an exciting team of experienced property professionals who are ready to deliver an exceptional service for local buyers and sellers.
The Havant branch further strengthens Taylor Hill & Bond’s offering in the east of Hampshire and is headed up by Neil Fowler the Branch Manager who has in excess of 20 years experience working within the property industry and has become renowned in the local area for delivering a customer focused and highly professional service. Further complimenting the team is our Senior Negotiator Robin Hercock who is a real customer favourite and can always be seen to go the extra mile for his clients. Accompanying Robin in the sales team is Harry Beggs; a new addition to the team who is already making a positive impact with his energy, enthusiasm and customer focused approach.
We are looking forward to seeing the branch grow over the coming weeks and would welcome any local clients to contact the team directly for any property related support that they can provide and can call them directly on 02392 482147.
Mortgage approvals are on the rise…
Mortgage approvals in August saw a 29% annual increase. The lockdown backlog is clearing and increased buyer demand, generated by the stamp duty holiday and lifestyle changes, has boosted figures.
190,902 mortgages have been approved in the last 3 months, -4% below the same time last year. The number of approvals for remortgages saw an annual decline of -33% in August, and a -27% decline in the last 3 months, compared to the same time last year.
The decline in remortgages is likely to be caused by the 53% increase in buyer demand from existing homeowners (Zoopla). Many homeowners will opt to apply for new mortgages, keen to secure them on their current economic situation and make the most of the stamp duty holiday.
If mortgage approvals continue to climb we will be in new territory. Savills forecast c.1.1 million transactions in 2020, with only 594,760 sales estimated to have completed so far, a lot more are to come.
Source: Dataloft, Bank of England
NOW OPEN – Taylor Hill & Bond Andover
Taylor Hill & Bond’s new branch in Andover town centre is now open for business! Occupying a prominent location directly on the high street the new branch has launched with a combination of existing Taylor Hill & Bond staff as well as exciting new hires who are ready to offer their expert help, support and guidance to local residents with their property selling and letting needs.
The Andover branch further strengthens Taylor Hill & Bond’s offering in the west and will compliment our existing branch in the market town of Romsey.
The Andover team has already secured an exciting new homes contract representing Foreman Homes the established regional developer with their new development The Nightingales which is an exclusive new development in Picket Piece, Andover – a mostly residential suburb located less than three miles east of Andover’s town centre.
Please feel free to contact the team directly on: 01264 314419.
Post Lockdown housing market demand surges…
There has been a huge surge of consumer interest in the housing market since May 13th, according to the Dataloft Demand Index.
In the week that lockdown was lifted, the Index climbed by 30%. By the end of May, it was 71% higher than a month earlier.
The Dataloft Demand Index suggests a strong start to the post-lockdown market, with agents’ sites receiving plenty of attention from prospective home movers.
The Index tracks the number of visits to agent’s local insight pages displaying the Dataloft Inform widget, making it a valuable indicator of potential demand.
Email inform@dataloft.co.uk to find out how to install the widget on your website. Read more in the blog ‘What is the Dataloft Demand Index?’ in ‘View from the loft’.
There’s no place like home on Fathers Day
Father’s Day is taking place on Sunday 21st June. Many will be looking forward to a socially distanced meet up, but with more than a quarter of young adults still living with parents, there is no need.
In the UK, 3.5 million young adults, aged between 20 and 34, live with their parents. This has increased by 46% over the last 2 decades.
More young adults live with parents as they are staying in education longer, formalising relationships and having children at older ages, and let’s not forget, the increased costs of renting or buying a home.
In the UK the average age of a first time buyer is 33 and if you choose to rent, on average 27% of income is spent on rent. Therefore, it is no surprise young adults are staying at home longer.
Having a garden and space to work from home now top criteria for buyers since lockdown…
- Dataloft Homemover survey revealed that just under half of buyers’ home requirements have changed as a direct result of lockdown and Covid-19.
- Just under a third of buyers said that having a garden has become a much more important consideration for them, a less urban area and being closer to family and friends has also increased.
- The importance of space to work from home and broadband speed has increased, reflecting buyers expectations to work from home more often following lockdown.
- The Homemover survey suggests that Covid-19 is likely to have left a legacy of consumer behaviour change, shifting the relative importance of house buyer requirements. Source: Dataloft Homemover Survey
- Check the infographics library for separate slides of each image.
Lenders loosen mortgage criteria post lockdown..
- Mortgage products are returning following a collapse in availability during lockdown. 77% of mortgage brokers expect lending to return to pre-pandemic levels within nine months.
- The increase in mortgage products will be slow and steady, lenders are prioritising existing customers and the back log of around 350,000 sales which did not complete during lockdown.
- An example of mortgages returning; the number of two-year fixed mortgage deals on a 90% and 95% LTV fell from 431 in March to 35 in May. At the beginning of June there were 61 products, although the growth is all in 90% products.
- It’s encouraging to see mortgage products return, but borrowers with a 5% deposit will find few fixed rate deals due to more cautious lenders.
Covid-19: How comfortable are vendors with physical viewings in their homes?
- The recent Dataloft Homemover survey has bolstered reports of growing momentum in the housing market. The vast majority of vendors who were considering selling their homes before lockdown, still plan to do so.
- So long as social distancing measures are enforced, 83% of vendors who are looking to sell their homes as soon as possible, say that they are either very or fairly comfortable with physical viewings taking place.
- This renewed confidence in the market led to an 111% increase in sales viewings booked last week (Property Market Insights Report, Coadjute).
- It is no surprise that those who are looking to delay their sale until next year were the most concerned with 8% insisting on digital viewings only. Source: Dataloft Homemover survey and Coadjute
- Check the infographics library for separate slides of each image.