Market Update from Ben Pridden, Head of Residential Sales:
We have seen a genuine hunger from buyers looking in the prime market in North Yorkshire, with recent sales agreed and sold between £1 million and over £6 million. We have a good level of buyers looking for “best in class” houses in this sector. There seems to be a real desire from buyers wanting to move to new homes in and around the Howardian Hills in particular.
The mid-market is showing promising signs too, with sales agreed at all price points including new homes in Ripon from £350,000 to family homes in The Moors and The Dales for between £500,000 and £900,000.
Rightmove reported a year on year rise of value of the average house price in Yorkshire and Humberside of +2.3%, which is a contrast to the near static price growth experienced in London of +0.1%. You can see the upward trend of rising asking prices of homes in the UK, reported by Rightmove this year in the graph below.
It would be naïve to report things are easy though. Again, according to Rightmove sales are taking a long time to exchange contracts with the average time between agreeing a sale and completing running at 154 days, and on average homes are taking over 3 months from launch, to a sale being agreed. With interest rates remaining comparatively high, and sentiment resting on a knife’s edge, it is no time to chance an excessive premium when considering a guide price- pricing is the key to success.
The election is inevitably a distraction. Having seen many over my 30 years in the industry, elections themselves are rarely market breakers. Most people are preparing for a change of government and have factored this into their lives. One of Labour’s manifesto policies around private school fees may well be a negative factor affecting a small proportion of our buyers- school fees could raise by as much as £24,000 a year for a family with three children currently at public schools.