Well its been a few months since Brexit and as we settle
into the Autumn with Great British Bake Off, Strictly and the Football season ...
the newspapers are returning to their mixed messages of good news, bad news and
indifferent news about the Brit’s favorite subject after the weather ... the
property market.
The thing is the UK does not have one housing market. Instead,
it is a patchwork of mini property markets all performing in a different way. At
one end of scale is Kensington and Chelsea, which has seen average prices drop in
the last twelve months by 6.2% whilst in our South West region, house prices
are 8% higher. But what about Warminster?
Property prices in Warminster are 9.3%
higher than a year ago.
So what does this mean for Warminster landlords and
homeowners? Not that much unless you are buying or selling in reality. Most
sellers are buyers anyway, so if the one you are buying has gone down, yours
has gone down. Everything is relative and what I would say is, if you
look hard enough, there are, even in this market, still some bargains to be had
in Warminster.
However, the most important question you should be asking
though, is not only is what happening to property prices, but exactly which
price band is selling? I like to keep an eye on the property market in Warminster
on a daily basis because it enables me to give the best advice and opinion on
what (or not) to buy in Warminster.
If you look at Warminster and split the property market into
three equaled sized price bands. Each price band would have around 33% of the
property in Warminster. From the lowest in value band (the bottom 33%) all the
way through to the highest 33% band (in terms of value).
·
Nil to £170k 22
properties for sale and 6 sold (stc) i.e. 21% sold
·
£170k to £325k 20
properties for sale and 51 sold (stc) i.e. 71% sold
·
£325k + 19
properties for sale and 9 sold (stc) i.e. 32% sold
Fascinating don’t you think that it is the middle Warminster
market that is doing the best?
The next nine
months’ activity will be crucial in understanding which way the market will go
this year after Brexit ... but, Brexit or no Brexit, people will always
need a roof over their head and that is why the property market has ridden the
storms of oil crisis’ in the 1970’s, the 1980’s depression, Black Monday in the
1990’s, and latterly the credit crunch together with the various house price
crashes of 1973, 1987 and 2008.
And why? Because Britain’s chronic lack of housing will
prop up house prices and prevent a post spike crash. ... there is always a
silver lining when it comes to the property market!
