Hometrack Cities Index shows annual price growth up 1.7%
Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, commented:
“City living remains extremely desireable and therefore conditions in these property hotspots are far more stable than other areas of the market and continue to see prices climb as a result.
The cities to have benefited from larger levels of buyer demand in the past are, of course, going to take longer to recover as this heightened demand has pushed up prices and it makes sense that they are now seeing more stock then sales as buyers wait for a natural adjustment to occur.
It looks as if London is finally turning a corner where city house price growth is concerned with the previous price rot seen now in reverse. Home sellers in the capital have been waiting patiently for the tide to turn as a lack of market activity has seen sold prices tumble. However, as the scales of properties sold to new stock now start to tip in favour of the seller, we should see price growth start to accelerate.”
Founder and CEO of Springbok Properties, Shepherd Ncube, commented:
“A bit of a mixed bag across the current market landscape but a positive one for the large part, with city house price growth continuing to shun wider market uncertainty to register yet more positive movement.
It’s promising to see such strength being registered across cities in the North, who have otherwise stood in the shadow of the capital for far too long.
These markets are enjoying much higher levels of buyer demand at present due to more realistic price expectations and the rate of new stock entering the market is failing to meet this appetite.
However, it is important that sellers remain realistic when pricing for the market because as we are seeing in Birmingham, a drastic period of over-performance won’t last forever.”