Geographical Centric Shifts: February’s Real Estate Insights

February as ever seemed to rush by, as I reflect on our figures and the experts it is clear that the market changes are geographically centric.

I was interested to read an article in the Guardian, written by the Halifax, stating that house prices in February had increased 1.1% to £285,476 after falls in the 2 previous months. It would be true to say, I keep getting asked what will happen to house prices this year and I understand how important this question is, as the reports we read are so vastly different in their bleak outlook to a more stable outlook. I can report to you now through our own statistics, that house prices reduced 0.5% in the last quarter, but have bounced back, so although there was a tiny drop in asking prices, it’s such a small drop and I can take an educated guess that this was over the festive period. Traditionally, house prices do really gain momentum in February and whilst we haven’t seen the momentum of previous years, it is good to see demand outweighing supply and all of you that read my report will know that like any commodity, when supply is in a shortage and demand is high, the price of the commodity ordinarily remains stable and solid.

I have several important announcements which should encourage the residents, sellers, landlord and tenants of Croydon, in that our new flagship branch at Thornton Heath pond, opened on the 21st February and I am delighted to see so much activity so early on. Also, as the group grows, we are continuing on the acquisition trend and I am confident of imminent positive news in this respect, which will grow the group and the Streets Ahead family to the biggest property company and estate agent in Croydon.

We were really pleased and delighted that Scott Fletcher, with years of experience in the new homes sector has joined us to team up with Patrick Donnelly in our land department and already in the first two weeks, we are in receipt of 100 new units, both off plan and in construction to sell.

So for all the gloom and negative news that surrounds the property market, there are success stories and you will all know that I am a big advocate of the Croydon housing market and it remains robust and solid because of its outstanding value for money as a London Borough.

The lettings market remains largely the same and I have spoken to many other estate agents, in that there is a shortage of stock as existing tenants are less fluid and as I reported in January, we are up to approximately 16 tenants per property and understandably, landlords are being very picky over which tenant to choose. There are a number of success stories that I would like to share in this respect, in that some of the tenants that may have missed out on a prospective property, we have helped to go on and buy their first house, with our knowledge of new homes and the housing market almost being unrivalled in Croydon. Which takes us to our anniversary of the 1st March, which celebrates 33 years of trading from the Lower Addiscombe Road office, with all 3 people, Bob Hay, Marina Steel and myself, still actively full time working in the business and still enjoying every aspect of estate agency. It’s great to see newcomers from the boroughs rising through the ranks as we did 30 years ago.

I look forward to giving you more of an insight in to March’s property market, both in sales, lettings and new homes in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, if you have any questions as ever, please feel free to email me or contact me directly.