I have recently been looking at the Solihull property market
for annual comparisons on property purchases and how the property market has
changed from the same period a year ago. Looking at the figures, I haven’t seen
any change in recent months and the Solihull market as a whole seems pretty
stable.
In the early part of the year, the top end of the market did
have a bit of a spasm in places such as Mayfair and Chelsea with the prospect
of a Labour/SNP pact and a possible Mansion Tax for properties over £2 million,
but in Solihull, we’ve not really been affected, particularly since only three
properties have sold above the £2,000,000 mark in the last 5 years.
Looking at the numbers for Buy to Let properties in the area,
current figures suggest that of the 836 properties that have come on to the
market in Solihull since the 2nd
of April, 295 of them have been brought and are sold subject to contract, which
is just over one in three (35.29%).
Things are starting to change in the way people in Solihull buy
and sell property. Back in the 1970’s, 1980’s
and 1990’s, the tradition was to buy a terraced house as soon as you left home
and refurb it. Meanwhile, property
prices had gone up, so you could trade up to a 2 bed semi after a while, and
repeated the process, until you found yourself in a large 4 bedroom detached
house with a large mortgage.
Looking into this a little deeper and as mentioned in my previous
articles, the public’s attitude to homeownership itself has changed over the
last ten years. The pressure for youngsters
to buy has disappeared as renting, not buying, is considered the norm for the
younger generation. This isn't just a trend in Solihull, but, a national
occurrence, as I have noticed that people buy property by upsizing or
downsizing because they need to, not because ‘it’s what people do’. This does means there are a lot less
properties on the market compared to the last decade.
A by-product of less people moving, is less people selling
their property. My research shows there are a lot fewer properties each month
selling in Solihull compared to the last 10 years. For example, in February 2015, only 78
properties were sold in Solihull. Compare this to February 2002, were 108 properties
sold and February 2003, were 91 properties sold. I repeated this comparison to more recent years
and the results were identical if not greater.
So what does this all mean?
Demand for Solihull property isn’t flying away, but with fewer
properties for sale, it means property prices are proving reasonably stable
too. Consistent and steady growth of property values in Solihull, year on year,
without the large peaks and troughs we saw in the late 1980’s and mid/late 2000’s
might just be the thing that the Solihull property market needs in the long
term.
For further information and opinions like this on the Solihull
Property market, please email me on jane.morcom@centrickproperty.co.uk
.
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