Posted on Sunday, April 4, 2021
Rightmove announced their busiest day ever in March and also reported that March 23rd was the day they recorded the highest number of sales on their portal across the UK.
Many people are asking what is happening and why? This is a cocktail of an extension of the stamp duty holiday, the kids going back to school (many parents had put moving plans on hold), the new government-backed 5% mortgage and don’t forget Spring is always a busier time in the UK housing market.
Here are your figures for March 2021
When supply is low and demand is high, property prices are pushed upward. Land Registry reports that in Lancaster recorded property prices are up by 3.6% over a 12 year period. These figures though are based on property completions. The reality is that asking prices are up in many regions of Lancaster by over 10%. And these houses are selling.
It is interesting to note that sales above £500,000 have fallen backwards. The stamp duty holiday for this price range ends on June 30th. Given the fact that the average completion time has increased from 90 days to 110 days (source Zoopla), this could be a key reason why. After June 30th buyers will have to pay £10,000 stamp duty on £500,000 home.
Terrace homes have been the most popular selling home on the Lancaster Housing Market, 56 of the homes sold were 3 bedrooms showing just how popular family-sized homes are. Homes with gardens are in huge demand and there is a big shortage of semi-detached homes currently.
LA1 4 was the most popular selling area, however, you could argue, this area has the most homes for sale. In March there were 120 homes for sale, compared with just 68 in LA1 2.
25 estate agents were involved with the 129 property sales in Lancaster.
We head into April with just 301 properties for sale on the Lancaster market. When you consider that there are 21,456 properties in Lancaster, it means that only 1.4% of the properties are actually available for sale (normally it is between 2-3%)
What is a concern though is that still 101 of these homes have been available for sale for 6 months and longer. 52 of them are apartments. 27% of them are with just one agent ( please note - not JDG! )
The average price in Lancaster for a detached home is now £309,461. The average price for a semi-detached home is £171,068.
If you are thinking of moving, please think JDG. We have successfully been selling homes in Lancaster for over 30 years and are ranked by Rightmove and The Property Academy in the top 3% of agents in the UK based on the results we achieve for our clients. Call us on 01524 843322 or email me at michelle@jdg.co.uk
Ps. Why not ask us what we do differently to get such great results! We’ll happily let you know