Two months on from my last article, and it is very interesting to see where the property market now finds itself. Although confidence has very much returned in the knowledge we have a Conservative government, the initial knee-jerk reaction to the election result hasn’t necessarily followed through and although the market has improved since early May, it hasn’t developed in the manner that many people were anticipating.

Prices are most definitely on the rise: one national newspaper reported that asking prices were up as much as much as 17% in London following the election. This is certainly supported by some the offers that we have been receiving recently, which have broken records for the area. West Hampstead in particular is benefiting from its neighbouring areas becoming too expensive, which is inflating the volume of applicants considering the area and therefore pushing up the prices. Family houses are particularly well received in terms of the value for money on offer compared to what is being sold on the other side of the Finchley Road.

One factor that hasn’t changed dramatically over the past couple of months is the level of available property to buy. I regularly speak to potential purchasers frustrated with the lack of homes for sale. The Bank of England reported for the month of May that one in three mortgage applications were for re-mortgaging.

What are the consequences of these figures? The surge in house prices over the last few years has given many the opportunity to buy their next home without having to sell their current home, which is having an impact on instruction levels. This has a knock-on effect on those potential vendors who do need to sell to move as they simply aren’t seeing enough property come onto the market to give them the confidence to make their own home available. The lack of stock in some instances is proving a stumbling block for agreeing sales and is delaying a number of transactions from exchanging contracts. One of the national agents reported this May that they were 17.7% down on exchanges compared with May 2014.

It is widely expected that the autumn will be the strongest period of the year. The initial euphoria of the election result has cooled slightly and it is clear that the market is still finding itself. Once that has happened, I’m very much expecting that we will see a fair balance of supply and demand as well as realistic price growth.

Matthew Sheldon
Manager
Benham & Reeves
West Hampstead
020 7644 9314
Follow @BenhamReeves

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