Has apathy has hit the Eastwood housing market as sellers
await the outcome of the general election and stricter mortgage regulation
suppresses buyer demand? Rightmove reported the number of homes registered for
sale per estate agent fell to its lowest level for five years in December, with
available stock 10% lower than in the same month a year earlier.
Looking at Eastwood and the whole of NG16, in the summer of 2014,
each estate agent in Eastwood had on average 79.1 properties on its books (as
there were a total of 871 properties up for sale in Eastwood at the peak in the
summer just gone). Our research shows that number plummeted to 61.4 per agent in
December. While the lack of new
properties coming onto the market in the later months of 2014 in Eastwood
pushed asking prices up slightly from November to December, traditionally a
quiet season for the housing market, property sellers will need to work hard in
2015 to complete a sale.
The length of time a property takes to sell has ever so
slightly increased over the last few months. Two bedroom properties in Eastwood
are now taking 71 days to sell, three bedroom 91 days, four bedrooms 166 days,
but here an interesting figure, one beds are taking on average 45 days to find
a buyer
2015 will be the year of the selective mover. With only 246 brand new properties a year
being built in Eastwood since the turn of the Millennium, this woefully low and
insufficient number of new buildings in the town over the past few decades and
a systemic change in the type of properties homeowners want (with families
splitting etc so we have too many larger houses and not enough smaller ones),
buyers are becoming dissatisfied with, and therefore dismissive of what is up
for sale.
The heat has gone out of the Eastwood property market and I
anticipate a moderate reduction from the high transaction volumes seen in 2014,
but it most certainly isn’t icy cold. That might mean Eastwood landlords could
bag a bargain during this period of uncertainty, especially if the financial
markets do not like the election outcome. Markets and buyers do not like
uncertainty, but savvy Buy to let landlords know buy to let is a long term
game, and irrespective of short term apathy, reduction in the quality and quantity
of stock for homeowners to buy or the
election result, if people don’t buy property they rent. The Council aren’t building anymore
properties, the council house waiting list is decades, not years for the better
type of property .. the only other place to get a roof over your head .. rent a
property! Good old Bricks and Mortar! In
fact with less properties coming on the market in Eastwood, that will keep
prices quite stable.
Therefore, if you are considering buying a property for
investment in the near future, I am always happy to give you my considered
opinion on which property to buy (or not as the case may be) to give you what
you want from your investment. Email me on jeremy.bullock@sprucetree.co.uk
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