Market Comment – May 2019

May turned out to be a mixed bunch of results and reports when I look at the statistics and media reports for the housing market. The average price of a house rose to £236,800 in the first 3 months to February, up 2.8% compared to the same period last year according to Russell Galley, managing director of the Halifax and he suggests that the shortage of houses for sale is playing a part in supporting those price increases, but it’s nice to hear the words “resilient” and “confident” back in the media report.

Reading a number of other reports, by and large experts and pundits expect house prices to rise still by 1.5% in 2019 and this is bolstered by some dramatic increases in the North of England, such as Liverpool, Manchester and Scotland. The good news for London is that recent reports suggest that property prices are set to enjoy a “Brexit bounce back” with the average price of a new build home in zones 1 and 2 expected to jump over 17% between Brexit and 2023, (according to JLL).

Other positive indicators are that JDP is forecast to grow 1.5% over the next year, 2% in 2020 and 2.2% in 2021 with earnings expected to rise as much as 4% for three consecutive years between 2021 and 2023.

Looking at our groups figures for May, across the group we saw a spike of 6% of prospective purchasers registering looking for new homes compared with the same month last year and a slightly lower spike of 4% of prospective tenants registering to rent accommodation. I was pleased to see two of our developments sell the last units during May and I was equally pleased to have launched our new development at Coombe Road, a block of luxury apartments overlooking Lloyd Park.

As most tenants and landlords know, government legislation came in to force on 1st June in the form of the tenant fee ban, which is a big change in the way that most agents transact and at Streets Ahead we have been developing and training our staff since January ready for this legislation to take place on 1st June. As a footnote to this, should anybody require any clarification or help regarding the tenant fee ban please feel free to call myself or any of our managers who would be happy to help.

I have every reason to believe that June is going to be a solid month both in the residential and lettings market and I look forward to reporting back to you in July.