NOVA NEWS EDITORIAL - JUNE 2023

Prospects of the Bank of England further increasing interest rates have led to Banks and Building Societies withdrawing some 800 mortgage products from the market. This will put further pressure on the housing market with more limited choice of mortgages available and the prospect of another increase in monthly payments for most borrowers.

Prices are on a gradual decline and therefore initial pricing when marketing is becoming even more critical. A quick look on one of the property portals whilst preparing this article showed that over 30% of the established homes added in the previous 3 days were reduced in price. This is not an exact science but it does show that agents feel a need to re-assess the asking prices of homes on a more frequent basis in current market conditions.

When marketing, do a bit of research yourself so that you are prepared for your prospective agents’ visit to undertake their valuations; discuss with them in more detail how the market is performing. It is not all bad news because there are still a significant number of properties selling relatively quickly. The likelihood is that if you haven’t agreed a sale within the first 3 to 4 weeks of marketing, it will be a little while before you sell.

There have been quite a lot of Land Registry plans to deal with this month for clients in Shrewsbury, Dudley, Wolverhampton, and Featherstone along with more local tasks, many of these being first registrations.

The rental market remains buoyant, supply is right down but demand is high, this is encouraging some new landlords into the business especially if they have cash funds available. Yields are increasing therefore it is becoming an attractive prospect to some investors despite the regulations becoming tighter for owners of property. Quality of stock will, hopefully, improve with rising standards of energy efficiency being required. I have been undertaking Energy Performance Certificate assessments on behalf of a number of new landlords recently, as well as from existing landlords who have expiring Certificates, which are currently valid for 10 years. If you are a landlord check the validity of your EPC on the EPC register at www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate and give me a call if your EPC is due to expire in the near future.

by Andrew Mason
Property Consultant