By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent
There was much talk over the imbalance of supply and demand in 2015. But has much changed as we enter 2016?
According to search engine Home, supply of homes on the market has fallen to a new record low despite a small rise. With only 386,000 properties on the market in England and Wales, it’s 47 per cent fewer than in 2008. A lack of properties on the market and low interest rates has pushed up asking prices to 8.2 per cent.
Home claims sellers are aware of the shortage of supply and see no reason to be cautious about pricing. Over the last month, prices jumped to almost a per cent over last month – leading to an additional £15K on the average home value. Property prices in England and Wales have seen there highest rise for January – up 0.3 per cent on December – since the onset of the financial crisis and is at odds with the normal seasonal trends. Prices have increased in all regions except the East, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire during the last month.
High demand means the typical time a property is on market in England and Wales is 117 days – a new post-crisis low for January and nine days less than a year ago. However, supply of property entering the market indicates a slight annualised increase of 4 per cent: the first such rise observed for many months.
Home have created an Asking Price Trend Graph for England and Wales:
