Predicting the property market can be difficult. If you’re looking to buy a new property or even sell your home in the next few months, you might want to know some recent changes to the property market. if that’s the case, then you’re in the right place.
House price growth has slowed to almost zero in recent months. But that doesn’t paint a complete picture, as growth has varied from region to region. In this article, we’re going to look at some of the key property trends in the first half of this year, so you can be a bit more up-to-date on the property market and have an idea of how things may or may not continue in the following months.
Market Growth Slowing In Some Areas
As we’ve already touched on, the massive property price growth that was almost guaranteed is now a thing of the past. It simply isn’t that easy anymore, and property price growth has slowed down somewhat across the board. However, this slowdown is more obvious in certain areas. While growth might be slowing, mortgage rates are still unpredictable. But you can still save by comparing mortgages.
Unpredictability Over Brexit
Some of the slowdown can be attributed to buyers and investors being nervous about what the outcome of Brexit is going to mean for them. Nobody can predict how things are going to go, and what the results will mean for the property market.
While it may see a bounce after things have become more clear, the current situation means big investors are slowing down on their investments to wait and see. The same is true for people looking to move—many of them are in “wait and see” mode.
This uncertainty has contributed to a slowdown of growth. While things might bounce back after Brexit, this is far from guaranteed. It makes it a good time to buy if you want to get onto the property ladder at a lower cost, but a bad time to buy if you want to invest or are hoping for some growth soon.
A Regional Rebalancing
We already touched on this when talking about the overall slowdown, but things aren’t as bad across the entire country. London, which previously saw historic growth, has slowed down the most. Other regions in the UK like the Midlands are still seeing some good growth in their property markets. As transport ties improve and people look for more affordable options than London, this regional rebalancing looks set to continue.
Build To Rent
One area that has seen some growth in investment is the build to rent industry. It’s now slightly easier to get financing for this, and more investors are seeing the benefits building to rent can bring, and the returns that can be garnered.
Change In Planning Laws
While planning laws were loosened somewhat over the last few years, they’re still relatively tight. With the country crying out for more land to build on, this battle looks set to continue between builders and local planning authorities.
How do you think these trends are going to affect the property market over the next few months? Let us know in the comments below.
