A little bit of good news this week on the Warrington Property Market as
recently released data shows that the number of first time buyers taking out
their first mortgage in 2017 increased more than in any other year since the
global financial crisis in 2009. The data shows there were 787 first time buyers in Warrington,
the largest number since 2006.
I expect in 2018
that this increase of first time buyers will level out and maybe dip slightly
as, nationally, figures demonstrate that first time buyer’s average household
income was £40,691 and this represented 17.3% of their take home pay. Although,
it might surprise readers that it is actually cheaper to buy than it is to rent
at the ‘starter home’ end of the housing market. Many of you can remember
mortgage rates at 12% ... even 15%. Today, at the time of writing this article,
I found on the open market, 189 first time buyer mortgages at 95% (meaning only
a 5% deposit was required) with 3 year fixed rates from a reputable High Street
bank at 2.49% ... they even did a 3 year fixed rate 100% mortgage for 2.89%!
Interestingly, looking
at the other end of the market, the buy-to-let investment in Warrington was
subdued, with only 161 buy-to-let properties being purchased with
a mortgage. However, I must stress, whilst there is no hard and fast
data on the total numbers of landlords buying buy-to-let, as HM Treasury
believes only 30% to 40% of buy-to-let property is bought with a mortgage. This
means there would have been further cash only buy-to-let purchases in Warrington
– it’s just that the data isn’t available at such a granular level.
In terms of the
level of mortgage debt in Warrington, looking specifically at the WA1 to WA5
postcodes, there hasn’t been a great deal of change in
this over the last few years.
This is pleasing
to see, as new mortgage debt is created by first time buyers, buy-to-let
landlords and home movers themselves, that is being roughly equalled by the
amount being paid off with mature mortgaged homeowners in their 50’s and 60’s
finally paying off their mortgage.
So, what does all this mean for the Warrington Property Market? Well, the stats paint a picture, but they
don’t inform us of the whole story. The upper end of the Warrington property
market has been weighed down by the indecision around the
Brexit negotiations and rise in stamp duty in 2014, when made it considerably
more expensive to buy a home costing more than £1m. The middle part of the Warrington
property market has been affected by issues of mortgage affordability and lack
of good properties to buy, as selling prices have reached the limit of what
buyers can afford under existing mortgage regulations. The lower to middle Warrington
property market was hit by tax changes for buy-to-let landlords, although this
has been offset by the increase in first time buyers.
If you are in the market and selling now and want
to ensure you get your Warrington property sold, the bottom line is you have to
be 100% realistic with your pricing from day one and you might not get as much
as you did say a year ago (but the one
you want to buy will be less – swings and roundabouts?). I know it’s not comfortable
hearing that your Warrington home isn’t worth as much as you thought, but Warrington
buyers are now unbelievably discerning.
So, if you are thinking of selling your Warrington
property in the coming months, don’t ask the agent out a few days before you
want to put the property on the market, get them out now and ask them what you
need to do to ensure you get maximum value in the shortest possible time. I,
like most Warrington agents, will freely give that advice to you at no cost or
commitment to you.
Email me on manoj@hamletwarrington.co.uk or call on 01925 235338. If you are in the area, feel free to pop into the office – we are based on G5, Warrington Business Park, Long Lane, WA2 8TX. There is plenty of free parking and the kettle is always on.
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