10 Jul Property Market Update UK 2018
PROPERTY MARKET UPDATE UK 2018
The property market is looking like its going to remain steady for the rest of the year new figures released in June, the figures show a slowing housing market with little growth and sales figures falling.
Over the last year, the average house price has seen a slight increase of only 1.9% to £224,000, this means the average house price has increased by £4,185.
The price growth since the end of 2017 has slowed as buyers and sellers are holding back due to a divoded opinion on the value of homes in 2018.
London has seen rapid growth in house prices in recent years, to a point now where buyers are struggling to afford and seller have been left with too higher expectations of how much their homes are worth.
He also added, ” January saw a sharp rise in mortgage approvals, then the next few months have seen approvals drop off, while new enquiries and agreed sales are stabilising after months of falling”.
Maybe the reason for this growth in confidence is due to employment levels being at an all-time low.
” With employment being at an all-time high, the labour market is helping support house prices. The first 3 months of 2018 saw a rise in full-time employment to 202,000 which is the biggest rise since 2015.”
” Pay has been steadily increasing and inflation has gradually decreased which has seen the squeeze on earnings start to ease.”
“Interest rates being very low is helping mortgage affordability more manageable which is underpinning house prices”.
Property prices are still projected to remain steady for the rest of 2018, but the number of sales are expected still fall.
One of the largest mortgage lenders Halifax has reported that the number of mortgage approvals – which are a key indicator to the number of completed house sales has dropped ever so slightly since April which has been for the third month in a row.
Having said that the fundamentals of the property market are still strong, with low supply, strong employment figures, wages rising faster than inflation and interest rates at a low level. as it stands we are very unlikely to see a massive turn down in house prices, unless the economic fundamentals change.
Compared to 2017, 2018 has seen both supply and demand subdued, which might indicate a lower than average house sales for 2018.