Market Comment – November 2015
Traditionally October is a good solid month for the housing market and October 2015 was not to disappoint. Early indicators in the month showed a firm spike in prospective purchasers looking to buy and in the first half of October as a group we registered 4% more purchasers than October 2014.
Firmly on the agenda of prospective purchasers is both the value for money, connectivity and the Westfield factor, all which is stimulating prospective home movers within the borough and firmly outside the borough. I myself have attended a number of conferences and seminars in October and it is very common for people to say to me ‘’Croydon is the place to buy’’ and as I have mentioned previously, for the first time in 42 years people who arrive at East Croydon station or people that pass by the station cannot fail to notice cranes and development.
So still a solid and robust October despite homes nationally dipping slightly but to put it in perspective, the national average of the typical home is still over £202,000 which is 8% higher than a year ago and prices in July, August and September as a quarter have risen 2% during this quarter. I read with interest last week that the land registry commented in September that the average price of a typical house in London was ‘’very close’’ to £500,000 and I agree with all the pundits and politicians that we firmly need to build more housing but as most of you know this is high on the agenda with the London borough of Croydon both in the town centre and the areas surrounding.
Turning to the lettings market, October is broadly what I expected with 7 tenants for every single property which has remained the same for the last 3 months. Interestingly, the lettings market is experiencing similar Croydon feel good factors as the sales market and in October there was a sizeable amount of tenants registering who were not residents in Croydon and were new to the area.
We were thrilled to attend the negotiator conference and awards on the 3rd November and hear from the housing minister Brandon Lewis with an interesting insight into government proposals for 2016 and beyond. I was equally thrilled on behalf of Bob and I and the staff to win the silver awards in both the commitment to the community and medium estate agency in the United Kingdom categories. It means a huge amount to us all here at Streets Ahead and the Streets Ahead Foundation is looking forward and already planning events in 2016 with all proceeds going to local Croydon charities.
As November kicks in and Christmas office parties get booked for December, I am expecting a really solid month for sales and a consistent month in residential lettings and I look forward to reporting back to you very shortly.