Looking at the newspapers between Christmas and New Year, it
seemed that this year’s sport in the column inches was to predict the future of
the British housing market. So to go along with that these are my thoughts on
the Huddersfield property market.
With the average 5-year
fixed rate mortgage at 1.98% (down from 3.47% in 2014) and 2-year fixed rate at
1.47% (down from 2.37% in 2014), mortgage interest rates offered by lenders are
at an all-time low (even with the slight increase on the Bank of England base
rate a few months ago). Added to this, there has been a low unemployment rate of
5.3% in Huddersfield, which has contributed to maintain a decent level demand for
property in Huddersfield in 2017 (interestingly
– an impressive 2,294 Huddersfield properties were sold in last 12 months),
whilst finally, the number of properties for sale in the town has remained
limited, thus providing support for Huddersfield house prices, meaning …
Huddersfield
Property Values are 3.8% higher than a year ago
However, moving into
2018, there will be greater pressures on people’s incomes as inflation starts
to eat into real wage packet growth, which will wield a snowballing strain on
consumer confidence. Interestingly though, information from the website
Rightmove suggested over a third of property it had on its books in October and
November had their asking prices reduced, the highest percentage of
asking price reductions in the same time frame, over five years. Still, a lot
of that could have been house-sellers being overly optimistic with their
initial pricing.
In terms of what will happen to Huddersfield property values in
the next 12 months, a lot will be contingent on the type of Brexit we have and the
impact on the whole of the UK economy. A lot of people will talk about the Central
London property market in the coming year, and if the banking and finance
sectors are negatively affected with a poor Brexit deal, then the London market
is likely to see more of an impact.
Nevertheless, the bottom
line is Huddersfield homeowners and Huddersfield landlords should be aware of
what happens in the rollercoaster housing market of Central London, but not
panic if prices do drop suddenly there in 2018. Over the last 8 years, the Central
London property market has been in a world of its own (Central London house
prices have grown by 89.6% in those last 8 years, whilst in Huddersfield, they
have only risen by 14.2%). So we might see a heavy correction in the Capital,
whilst more locally, something a little more subdued.
Hindsight is always
better than foresight and predicting anything economic is all well and good
when you know what is around the corner. At least we have the Brexit divorce
settlement sorted and, as the UK economy and the UK housing market are
intertwined, it all depends on how we deal as a Country with the Brexit issue.
However, we have been through the global financial crisis reasonably intact ...
I am sure we can get through this together as well?
Oh, and house prices in Huddersfield
over the next 12 months? I believe they will end up between 0.4% lower and 1.2%
higher, although it will probably be a bumpy ride to get to those sorts of
figures.
If you would like to read
more articles on my thoughts on the Huddersfield property Market – please visit
the Huddersfield Property Market Blog https://huddersfieldproperty.blogspot.co.uk/
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