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Bristol and Cambridge were most searched locations for homes in 2015
Bristol is the most searched city for property hunters in the UK, followed by Cambridge, according to new research from online property portal Rightmove. Margate has seen the highest asking price hikes and Welwyn Garden City is where properties have sold the quickest with March the busiest month of the year in terms of browsing for real estate. There were 110 million visits from home hunters each month to Rightmove in 2015, as demand for property hit an all-time high and supply issues in many parts of the country remained. Whilst the busiest month was March, the busiest day for browsing property was actually later in the year on Monday 10 August when home hunters browsed over 58.6 million pages of property, a common time of year for people to try and find a new home to be settled in before Christmas. Bristol and Cambridge came first and second for potential buyers and renters searching for property in 2015 outside London, with almost 14 million searches in these two places over the year. York was in third place for buying and Manchester came third for rental searches. Commuter towns Milton Keynes and Reading made the top 10 searches for both renting and buying, perhaps as people looked for more affordable options outside of the capital. Some areas fared particularly well in 2015 outside London, with new seller asking prices in a few locations going up by more than 20%. The seaside town of Margate in Kent saw the price of property coming to market go up by 24.2% to £204,631 between January and the end of November, followed closely by Altrincham in Cheshire with a rise of 21.9% to £484,258. The rest of the top five is made up of towns in Kent with Gravesend recording a rise of 20.5%, Ramsgate up 18.6% and Dartford up 17.4%. The average time for a property to sell across England and Wales was 62 days throughout 2015. Properties in Welwyn Garden City sold fastest outside London, spending an average of only 25 days on the site before being marked as sold, with nearby Hertford coming in second place with an average of 26 days. Places in the East of England dominated the top 10 fastest to sell list, as many parts of the region recorded strong growth. As the year ended, the annual new seller asking price increase in the East of England is 9.2%, recording the same rise as the South East. ‘2015 saw demand reach record levels for home hunters both buying and renting, and the ripple effect from London to the South East moved even further out to places like Essex and Hertfordshire, as you can see from how quick properties are selling in these locations,’ said Rightmove’s housing expert Sam Mitchell . ‘Usually January is Rightmove’s busiest month but the New Year rush stayed even longer this year, and we recorded our busiest ever month in March. It’ll be interesting to see… Continue reading
UK buyers taking longer to make up their minds than a year ago
Property buyers in the UK are taking longer to make up their mind about a home with many taking a second or even a third viewing before making an offer, new research has found. On average it now takes 53 minutes of viewing a property, up from 38 minutes a year ago, according to the research from online estate agent eMoov. Indeed, just 6% make an offer after the first viewing. The majority of buyers, 53%, return for a second viewing, with a further 41% feeling the need to view a property more than twice. Buyers in London are more likely to seek a third viewing. The research also suggests that buyers undertake a considerable amount of research before they view a property. Some 67% read the full property description before arranging to view and 59% look at other properties listed in the area. It also found that 56% check out the road where the property is on Google street view, 53% take a detailed look at the floor plan and room sizes, 49% research the local amenities, 44% research the historic value of a property or surrounding properties and 25% check out schools. ‘UK buyers are taking that extra bit of time viewing a property, before submitting an offer. Although demand is still high in a number of areas, particularly London and the surrounding areas, the market isn’t quite as competitive as it has been in previous years, so many potential buyers are opting for a second or third viewing before committing to a property,’ said the firm’s chief executive officer Russell Quirk. ‘It makes sense given the enormity of such a decision and with buyers not feeling as pressured, there is no need to rush to submit an offer and secure a property after the first viewing,’ he added. But he pointed out that the data shows that there are still those 6% of buyers that will view a property for less than 10 minutes, before deciding to buy it. ‘This still amazes me but highlights the speed the market can move at, in the areas where demand is still outstripping supply,’ said Quirk. Continue reading
US property sales set to grow at a more moderate pace in 2016
Following the housing market’s best year in nearly a decade, existing home sales in the United States are forecasted to expand in 2016 at a more moderate pace. Pent-up buyer demand is expected to combat affordability pressures and meagre economic growth, according to the latest monthly report from the National Association of Realtors. Indeed, Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist believes that demand, sustained job growth and improving inventory conditions are the main reasons for an expected gain from 2015 in new and existing home sales. Despite his forecasted increase in sales, Yun cites rising mortgage rates, home prices still outpacing wages and shaky global economic conditions as headwinds that will likely hold back a stronger pace of sales. ‘This year the housing market may only squeak out 1% to 3% growth in sales because of slower economic expansion and rising mortgage rates. The continued rise in home prices will occur due to the fact that we will again encounter housing shortages in many markets because of the cumulative effect of homebuilders under producing for multiple years. Once the spring buying season begins, we'll begin to feel that again,’ Yun explained. With one month of data remaining for 2015, Yun expects total existing homes sales to finish the year up 6.55 from 2014 at a pace of around 5.26 million, the highest since 2006, but roughly 25% below the prior peak set in 2005 of 7.08 million. The national median existing home price for all of 2015 will be close to $221,200, up around 6% from 2014. In 2016, existing sales are expected to grow between 1% and 2%, 5.3 to 5.4 million and prices between 5% and 6%. Continue reading
