Lancaster & Morecambe 01524 843322
Posted on Monday, November 7, 2022
It is an interesting landscape. Buyers are still wanting to buy. They are still viewing homes. However now there is more choice, they are suddenly discovering they no longer need to panic buy and they are taking their time. They are also becoming more choosy. Money is tighter. Their budgets have shrunk. 6 months ago, a typical first-time buyer was spending 34% of their take-home pay on their mortgage. Now it is closer to 45%.
October has been a month of definite change. New instructions have shot up, and sales are down but not by as much as we first feared. People still want and also need to move.
Sellers and their chosen estate agents need to work as a team. 12 months ago, houses were selling themselves. Our job was to maximise the price. Now our role is back to helping you not just find a buyer through our expert marketing and negotiating hard but also ensuring that your sale goes through to completion. We call it consultancy and it means we need to work very closely with our clients.
Here are the figures for October 2022
The average price of a home sold in Lancaster (LA1) now stands at £168,749. This is actually higher than it was last month and an overall 6% increase over the course of the past 12 months.
What we need to remember though is that this price data is based on completed properties. These are house sales that were agreed upon before the mortgage market turned and interest rates increased considerably.
In real-time, property prices are now known to be coming down due to the increase in the mortgage rate and buyers borrowing power.
Buyer demand may be showing half of what it was back in February, however, we are still encouraged and the figures from Rightmove are better than any of us expected. It confirms what we are experiencing at JDG. Buyers are still looking. It’s their ability to buy that has become more restricted. Think about it. It's like they have had a taste of champagne but are now told their budget is more cava. ( Please note, I have no issues with cava…
Buyer demand is essential knowledge to me. It is something we monitor closely. It is worth noting that buyer demand was as low as 33.9 daily views in October 2019. This was the time when buyers were waiting to see what happened with Brexit!
In October, the JDG team registered 178 new buyers. This is only 6 less than we registered in September.
Price reductions are up. We expected they would be. The banks and building societies are talking about a falling market and for those homes that came to the market prior to mid-September, really need to be making price adjustments which are reflective of the new market conditions. The fear is if they don’t make them now, they may find themselves making even larger reductions in future weeks/months.
It is also worth noting that the length of time to find a buyer has already increased to an average of 37 days.
16 agents were involved with the 78 property sales in October. At JDG we agreed 17 of these sales.
So far this year we have agreed 201 sales in LA1. This equates to 27.1 % of the whole market. On average we have been achieving 99% of our asking price for our selling clients. This shows we provide accurate valuations and that our experienced team has excellent negotiation skills.
Despite the more difficult market conditions we still achieved asking price offers for clients in Skerton, Newton and the city centre. Homes in Marsh, Scotforth, Bowerham and Ridge are sold quickly thanks to our extensive list of buyers we know who are looking.
We have said it for the last two last months and we will say it again this month, in a changing market, knowing your buyers really is key.
Are you thinking of moving? Think JDG. We would love to help. Our proven results and client reviews make us the best sellers for you in Lancaster and Morecambe. Call us on 01524 843322
Thanks for reading
Michelle
Ps. If you are thinking of selling, this is quite important. For the 2nd year in a row, we have been ranked as the No.1 Estate Agent in the UK The Property Academy. You do not pay to enter, every single estate agent in the UK is automatically entered. There are 15,000 different companies entered.
