Agents at award-winning Midlands estate agency Chosen Home have reassured homeowners that gloomy forecasts of plummeting house values are inaccurate, although the fast-escalating prices experienced since the onset of the pandemic are now a thing of the past.
Despite climbing interest rates and economic uncertainty, the business says that the property market is performing better than it was at the end of 2019, with demand for new homes not abating.
Chris Stuart, area manager for the business, said that buyers and sellers alike have been concerned by events over the past three months, but that with the property market now stabilising, it was important to note that 2020 and 2021 were borne by an abnormal situation and should not be used as an accurate comparison for year-on-year house price figures.
“When the pandemic hit us and the UK went into lockdown in March 2020, the general consensus was that the property market would tank. Agents weren’t able to conduct viewings and everything stalled. In reality, spending months confined to our homes threw everything into perspective and far from tanking, the market went absolutely crazy with asking prices escalating at an astonishing rate,” said Chris.
“Contrary to a glut of gloomy headlines, the residential market is performing better than it was at the end of 2019 – the last realistic, non-pandemic timeframe we have to use as a comparable. In fact, there’s a four per cent increase in demand for new homes, so these doom laden forecasts that house prices will fall significantly in the coming months are inaccurate – unfortunately for buyers.
“That said, the activity we’ve seen since 2020, with house prices increasing by five and six per cent each month, is behind us: it simply wasn’t sustainable, and will likely lead to much more realistic asking prices – providing far more opportunities for would-be buyers who simply haven’t had an opportunity in the past couple of years. However, those buyers shouldn’t be holding out for a mythical 20 per cent drop in asking price. The average price of property coming to market has dropped by just 1.1 per cent.
“With mortgage interests rates now coming down – we’re unlikely to see one and three per cent rates again, but four per cent is likely to become the norm – 2023 is going to be an exciting year for the market, but the price reductions people are concerned about, and in some cases, hoping for, are just not going to materialise,” he added.
