The beginning of the New Year is always a good time to take stock and to look forward to the months ahead and that certainly applies to the property market.
UK annual house price growth ended 2016 at 4.5 percent, the same as 2015 according to the Nationwide Building Society.
Interestingly, 2016 is the first year since 2008 that price growth in London ended the year below the UK average. They report that annual price growth in the capital was 3.7 percent in 2016 compared with 12.2% in 2015. A very substantial change.
In terms of the Marlborough market, despite still having very high demand for all types of property, this does mean that there might not be so many buyers from London and the South East to provide the premium prices that we have got used to over the years.
Indeed, going forward, the Nationwide – along with many other analysts – believe that the UK property market’s growth will slow to possibly two percent pa.
This more gloomy perspective is shared by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, whose members have downgraded their outlook for UK property sales in the year ahead, although they are much more upbeat about the rental market.
Keen property watchers will already begin to see the results of this slight slowdown with a number of properties for sale being reduced in price.
A good estate agent will always keep their finger on the pulse of the property market, so their clients are aware of the dangers of asking too high a price in a more subdued market.
If you are selling, your agent should be thinking of more creative strategies to get you the right price, as at Winkworth, we know buyers are still queuing up for the right properties.
No doubt Brexit negotiations may have an effect on the market in 2017, but as in 2016, the local market depends mostly on supply and demand, rather than the overall economic picture.
Shona Ford is senior negotiator at Winkworth Marlborough
