How the heatwave and summer holidays have affected the Barnet property market
By Michael Holloway – Director Hunters of Barnet
It’s been an interesting August, at a time when historically the Barnet property market is a little quieter, with people enjoying the summer sunshine with their family or away on holiday, although, like much of 2022, for the local market, this has not been a normal year.
Last month, again counter to normal trends, we saw more property come to the market than would be expected during July, with the start of the school summer holidays, typically a time when families are focused on their annual two weeks in the sun and not on moving home.
The unseasonal and unexpected increase in property stock has been welcomed by many of the local buyers that have been struggling to find their dream home during recent months of very low stock levels. There remains welcome buyer demand, although it’s much more compared to earlier in the year.
Property prices
With such strong buyer demand this year, we’ve seen a significant increase in property prices in the local Barnet market. The property portal Rightmove, in its monthly ‘House Price Index’ had until August, reported six consecutive monthly increases in average asking prices.
This month, Rightmove reported a drop of 1.3% nationally, we normally see property prices drop in August and this year is on a par with the average August drop over the past ten years. Whilst sellers don’t like to see a drop in prices, it’s encouraging that some semblance of normality seems to be returning to the property market.
Rightmove talk about the causes of the drop, predictably summer holidays seem to be taking priority for many and some owners are pricing more competitively to secure a buyer quickly, this in order to beat the lengthy average time to completion and move home before Christmas.
Also confirmed, is that the buyer demand issue we’ve seen for much of the previous 12 months seems to be easing with more property stock coming to the market, this is in line with our own experience locally, although the considerable imbalance remains.
The ‘House Price Index’ notes that buyer enquiries are down 4% on the buoyant market of 2021, but remain 20% higher than in 2019 and whilst new listings are up by 12% on the same period last year, they are still 6% down on 2019 and available stock is down 39% on 2019.
How much have asking prices increased in 20 years?
August marks 20 years of Rightmove’s House Price Index, with national average asking prices more than doubling in those 20 years (+134%), from £155,994 to £365,173, outstripping both salaries and general inflation.
Mortgage interest rates
Mortgage interest rates have increased in line with the Bank of England’s base rate increases, most recently earlier this month from 1.25% to 1.75%, this, the largest of the 6 previous rate increases since December of 2021 at 0.5%, making the current rate the highest for 14 years.
Whilst mortgage interest rates are increasing, buyers can insulate themselves against future rate rises by taking advantage of the many fixed-rate mortgage deals that are currently on offer. Buyers can also lock in longer mortgage terms to bring more certainty to their outgoings, particularly when some lenders are offering virtually the same rate for either two-year and five-year fixed rate deals.
Considering a home move this autumn?
Please feel free to call me if you are considering selling your home in the Barnet area for either an informal conversation about how we might help you with this or to book a market appraisal. You can also use our Instant Online Valuation tool.
Good luck with your house hunting.