With a warm week promising us a long awaiting chance to get outside followed by lots of rain, we have seen an upturn in enquiries for valuations even with the early Easter. The weather has an impact on so many and Rightmove reported that during March there were 142 million monthly visits to their site.
Rightmoves house price index shows the average national asking price of property is £305,732 which is up +0.4% from last month and up 1.6% on last year – setting a new national average. The East of England average asking price saw and increase of 0.6% to £353,954 up by 1.2% on last year. The average time to sell in our region last month was 58 days according to Rightmove.
First time buyers house prices saw an increase of 0.4% to £190,643 whilst the second steppers saw a 0.6% increase this month making the average asking price £273,698 – that is up 2.7% annually. On average sellers are hitting 96.7% of their final asking price
Average national asking prices in April according to the Nationwide House Price Index were £213,000, that is up 0.2% from last month and up 2.6% on last year. Nationwide report that cash buyers played an important role in the housing market “The share of cash transactions has declined a little over the past eighteen months. This is due in part to the introduction of the additional stamp duty levy on second properties which has impacted the purchase of second homes and rental properties, a large proportion of which tend to be conducted in cash. Nevertheless, cash buyers continue to play an important role in the housing market, accounting for around a third of transactions.”
Nationwide went on to say ““In recent years, we have seen a recovery in first time buyer transactions, which are now broadly in line with pre-crisis levels. The easing in credit availability, including schemes such as Help to Buy, have helped boost activity. Meanwhile, home mover activity has remained relatively subdued, in part due to the lack of stock on the market. Buy to let purchases have fallen as a share of total transactions since 2016, which reflects a softening in demand following tax changes and changes in underwriting standards.”
If you are looking to buy or sell whether you are a first-time buyer or second stepper, landlord or someone looking to downsize contact our friendly team to see how we can help you. Every client is assured the same level of service and expertise