When it comes to a New Year, it is natural people look ahead. This is the case for people in their life, and for the issues that affect them. It is understandable that many people will hold a genuine interest in what comes next in the housing market.
At Stones Residential, we are here to assist you.
What’s happening to house prices?
This is an interesting question that many people want to know about the housing market, and according to Zoopla, the following has all taken place. “House prices rose at an annual rate of 7.1% in November. The strongest growth was in Wales, where house prices went up 11.1%. This was followed by the North West at 9.1% and the South West at 8.7%. By contrast, prices in London edged ahead by just 2.4%.”
It has been observed that the London housing market hasn’t performed as strongly as many other areas, and of course, this might be down to the fact that the market is correcting itself after years where the London housing market led the way.
What does the expert at Zoopla say?
Grainne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla, said: “This year has been a record year for the market. The stamp duty holiday and the pandemic-led ‘search for space’ has resulted in the highest number of sales since before the financial crisis, with 1.5m transactions.”
One of the things that Grainne expects to happen is that in the New Year, some homeowners will attempt to cash in on the growth in property prices. This means they are preparing themselves to see an increase in homes coming onto the market in the opening quarter of 2022.
If this does happen, it will be of considerable benefit. There is no denying the shortfall in the supply of homes has been a key factor in rising house prices. If a greater number of existing homeowners can be tempted to enter the market, it will go some way to ensuring that the current imbalance between supply and demand is levelled out.
Sales market will likely slow down
One of the most interesting things about the market of late is that homes are going from being listed to a sale agreed subject to contract in less than 30 days. However, this isn’t expected to remain the case in 2022. It is believed that it will take around 50 days for this process to take place, and this will fall in line with pre-pandemic levels.
However, while it is likely that the supply of homes will increase, it is still believed that the demand for homes will continue to be greater than the supply of homes. This is why Zoopla is predicting house price growth of 3% in 2022.
Zoopla is also predicting that 1.2 million homes will be sold in 2022, which will be a fall from the 1.5 million homes expected to have been sold in 2021.
Contact Stones Residential for all your Belsize Park property needs in 2022
If you would like to arrange an appointment to help you negotiate the local housing market, please contact Stones Residential today by calling us on 020 7483 0685 or emailing belsizepark@stonesresidential.co.uk.
