Demand outstrips supply in buoyant Marlborough property market – estate agent

Land Registry data for all house transactions in England and Wales to the end of January, confirms the acceleration in the national trends, with growing confidence in the market underpinned by Help to Buy and the frenzied activity in central London, but the national figures hide some key regional variations, says Edward Hall of Marlborough estate agent Smiths Gore.

Nationally, prices rose by one percent in January; an annual rise of 4.2 percent, to an average price of £168,356. London rose by 10.9 percent to £409,881. Interestingly the major activity in the capital has not been in the foreign buyers’ hotspots of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, but in Hackney, which experienced an eye-watering 20.4 percent in the year – 2.9 percent in January alone – to a new high of £526,361.

Outside of the capital, the general picture is that the counties nearest the capital are performing best, as the ‘London Effect’ filters outwards, but, with more activity in the market than for many years, some interesting regional variances are opening up.

“After years of stagnation Wiltshire is showing a 2.3 percent annual increase over the year. But that is only the average picture,” said Edward. “Locally Marlborough is quite buoyant with demand outstripping supply and the pressure is building on prices, although there is no suggestion of a housing bubble.

“The confidence in the market, fuelled generally at the entry level by initiatives such as the Help to Buy Scheme, is filtering through the system, but we find most properties are not being sold to jump on a profit bandwagon, but to enable movement in a more social context, allowing downsizing, divorcing partners to move on and find closure and married couples to find a home.”