Well its been a few months since Brexit and
as we settle into the Autumn with Great British Bake Off, Strictly and the
Football season ... the newspapers are returning to their mixed messages of good
news, bad news and indifferent news about the Brit’s favourite subject after
the weather ... the property market.
The thing is the UK does not have one
housing market. Instead, it is a patchwork of mini property markets all performing
in a different way. At one end of scale is Kensington and Chelsea, which has
seen average prices drop in the last twelve months by 6.2% whilst in our South East
region, house prices are 12.3% higher. But what about Dartford?
Property prices in Dartford
are 16.4% higher than a year ago
and
1.5% higher than last month.
So
what does this mean for Dartford landlords and homeowners? Not that much unless
you are buying or selling in reality. Most sellers are buyers anyway, so if the
one you are buying has gone up, yours has gone up. Everything is relative
and what I would say is, if you look hard enough, there are even in this
market, there are still some bargains to be had in Dartford.
However, the most important question you
should be asking though is not only is what happening to property prices, but exactly
which price band is selling? I like to keep an eye on the property market in Dartford
on a daily basis because it enables me to give the best advice and opinion on
what (or not) to buy in Dartford.
If you look at Dartford and split the
property market into four equalled sized price bands. Each price band would
have around 25% of the property in Dartford, from the lowest in value band (the
bottom 25%) all the way through to the highest 25% band (in terms of value).
·
Nil to £210k 87 properties for sale
and 155 sold (stc) i.e. 64% sold
·
£210k to £270k 81
properties for sale and 114 sold (stc) i.e. 58% sold
·
£270k to £350k 90
properties for sale and 111 sold (stc) i.e. 55% sold
·
£350k + 110 properties
for sale and 115 sold (stc) i.e. 51% sold
Fascinating don’t you think that it is the
lower Dartford market that is doing the best?
The
next nine months’ activity will be crucial in understanding which way the
market will go this year after Brexit ... but, Brexit or no Brexit,
people will always need a roof over their head and that is why the property
market has ridden the storms of oil crisis’ in the 1970’s, the 1980’s
depression, Black Monday in the 1990’s, and latterly the credit crunch together
with the various house price crashes of 1973, 1987 and 2008.
And why? Because of Britain’s chronic lack
of housing will prop up house prices and prevent a post spike crash. ... there
is always a silver lining when it comes to the property market!
