It has been a tumultuous year for the UK property market but, in reality, property prices have increased fairly modestly and responsibly along with a more manageable overall economic growth.
Halifax, the country’s leading mortgage lender, has released figures this week which suggest that the market is doing quietly well despite the gloomy coverage of the past 12 or 18 months. Reported in the Guardian, house prices rose for the second month running in June, adding £745 to the value of an average property. Meanwhile, Nationwide Building Society said prices rose by 0.5% in June, and that annual price growth was running at 2%.
Russell Galley, Halifax’s managing director, was quoted in the Guardian article saying: “We continue to see very positive factors of continuing low mortgage rates, great affordability levels and a robust labour market. The continuing shortage of properties for sale should also continue to support price growth.”
The lender is also continuing to predict overall price growth across the UK market at 3%, a decidedly positive prediction which would see a significant increase on the current average of £225,654. Their most recent analysis put prices jumping by 1.6% in March and 1.7% in May.
There are marked differences regionally, with the North West, East Midlands and West Midlands doing very well, but areas of the South East and South West struggling.
Jeremy Leaf, a London estate agent and the former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, was quoted in the Guardian saying of London: “We have reached the limit of what many buyers can afford, so this is not a correction, more a realignment of prices to reflect changes in circumstances”.
In addition, recent research from GoCompare ranked the biggest reasons potential buyers feel put off when viewing houses. 69% of survey respondents said they would avoid buying a property that had visible damp stains on any of the walls or ceilings, and 63% said they would avoid properties that had bad smells.
Properties that were in a “poor state of repair” would risk losing offers from 59% of potential buyers, the survey said. 56% said that a lack of parking would also mean they would avoid buying, whilst 53% said they would lose interest at the sight of unfinished building work.
Other issued ranking highly on the list were rubbish in neighbouring gardens (48%), a dirty house (46%), outdated electrics (46%), dark rooms with poor natural light (43%), outdated décor (24%), old kitchen (24%), dated bathroom (22%), and a small kitchen (39%).
It seems that as the summer hots up, so too is the housing market and now could well be the time to update those dated features in your property.
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