UK, England and Wales data
There’s mixed feedback from the industry and the statistics this month. Rightmove’s sales prices have edged up a little and are almost back to July’s pre Brexit vote average, while Nationwide and Halifax mortgaged property prices have remained pretty steady over the summer months. At the moment it appears that the home mover market is doing well, while the buy to let market is still giving mixed signals with some saying, such as the RICS, that numbers are down while other agents, especially in cheaper areas are reporting ‘no problem’, suggesting many are ignoring the pending tax changes. However, we’ll have to wait to see what happens at the budget on the 23rd November to see if this Cabinet considers individual buy to let investors as part of the housing problem - or can work out how they can be part of the solution!
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What's happening in the regions?
Source: UK HPI
The regional data suggests that Welsh average prices should recover in the next six to twelve months to pre-credit crunch levels - meaning it will have taken 10 years for prices to have recovered in this region. Of course, this ignores the fact that anyone owning a property outright will actually have still lost ‘real value’ on their property as inflation over this period has been 25%. This poses a serious question as to whether owning property with cash is wise, especially for investors. Scotland has pretty much recovered, but this is just on average and different areas perform at different rates, with Aberdeen suffering just now when the recession didn’t really touch them due to their oil dependent economy. Northern Ireland however, still remains ‘cracking value’ or ‘a nightmare’ for those in negative equity.
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What's happening in your town and city?
Source: UK HPI
The ‘southern power house’ of property prices continues to drive prices up in double figures, year on year, and is pretty consistent with the likes of Brighton and Hove and Reading regularly appearing in the top five for both short term and long term high growth rates. Meanwhile, it’s a surprise to see Edinburgh not doing so well just now year on year, while Glasgow remains a poor performer price wise both year on year and long term. ‘The northern powerhouse’ may be an aim for business, but property wise still has some way to go to see prices really take off and anyone investing here needs to look to gearing to make investment work as cash investment is unlikely to stack up versus inflation with such low growth rates in the short and long term.
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