Reports on a housing market slowdown continue

There has been yet more discussion in the press regarding the housing market slowdown and the forecasts for 2015 will soon be doing the rounds.

You will have all undoubtedly noticed over the last few weeks there has been increasing comment in the press regarding the UK housing market slowdown. We will see yet more of this comment in the printed and digital media as we head into December, when all the property pundits will, some with great professional knowledge and acumen and others with just a damp finger stuck into the air, seek to forecast what will become of the housing market in 2015.  

UK property portal giant Rigthmove's latest survey, suggests that more sellers are cutting prices to try and attract buyers in the run up to Christmas, and the fact that asking prices have been falling across the country is a further sign that Britain's property rush has been stalling. It is their view that underlying demand remains strong, but it has been muted by higher prices stretching affordability. 

The year to date has seen the highest 12-month period for housing transaction volumes since 2007, although average stock levels held at estate agents fell to an average of 60 properties, a record low in November. New properties coming onto the market in November slumped by 15 per cent on October and are 1 per cent down on a year ago.

Rightmove's comments certainly support  the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors report which found property price gains this year have gradually slipped in the three months to October, with more stringent checks by mortgage lenders and an underlying fear of a rise interest rates maybe just round the corner influencing consumers buying decisions. Also in November the Halifax showed house prices fell in October and the  the Council of Mortgage Lenders said last week that the number of home loans approved by the banks and building societies fell for a second month in a row in September. Lenders have been approving fewer mortgages since they became required in April to make more detailed enquiries into borrowers' personal finances, as part of the Mortgage Market Review. The MMR measures were also followed by a clampdown on risky lending by the Bank of England this autumn.

For our region, the East Midlands, Rightmove comments that annual house price growth has dropped back to only 2.4% on the year to November. Compared with other areas of the UK, you might say this is not a lot to write home about, especially when we see that for East Anglia there has been annual growth to date of 9.8%. However, within Lincolnshire we can say that there have been some geographical markets, and markets for certain styles of property, such as bungalows, where we have seen growth figures in excess of what has been reported by Rightmove.

See the ThisIsMoney.co.uk article in full here.

Tony Wing DipsSurv FNAEA MRICS
Sales Director
Lincoln Office
Tel:  01522 538888
Email: tonywing@robert-bell.org
Twitter: @robertbellandco

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