Are we due a late Spring stock recovery?

In his latest market comment and regular Shropshire Star column, Samuel Wood co-director discusses whether we are due a late Spring stock recovery:

"Supply is certainly tight right now. If you are looking to buy or rent you might find a house has sold even before you have had a chance to discuss it with your other half or chat your mortgage lender.

And the same with the rental market – houses are flying on the shelves and you can’t even view before it has been let. This is obviously fantastic for sellers, who can command the best prices right now with buyers queuing up literally in their droves. And property investors looking to offload something from their portfolio are seeing them snapped up within days.

While trawling a property portal or the websites of your local estate agent, if you untick the ‘sold’ box, the list of available properties seems to be woefully small.

The Negotiator has reported that people have been registering in record numbers in recent months, while sellers have hesitated, reflecting the mixed national mood.

This is one of those awkward times in the property market, where a certain set of special circumstances have caused a stalemate. How can you sell your house or let a property if you can’t find anywhere to move to yourself?

Though we are moving beyond the pandemic, (which caused peaks in the property market no one could have foreseen), the conflict in Ukraine is intensifying and the cost-of-living crisis is upon us all.

So, what, if any is the good news if you are hoping to get onto that hallowed ladder, or step up, or buy an investment property or find a flat or house to rent?

The Halifax reported annual UK growth of 11% in April, which included a monthly rise of 1.4 per cent, the largest in six months. Nationwide recorded growth of 14.3% over the same period.

Looking at property portal evidence, you’d be forgiven for thinking those numbers aren’t about to go into freefall, and this is despite the fact inflation and mortgage rates are rising.

But stock is building and this process is happening more quickly in some areas than others.

It’s certainly encouraging that in March new sales instructions across the UK were only 0.5% below the five-year average for the same month. The number of new prospective buyers registering was a whopping 56% higher, which gives you some context.

The latest customer intelligence home mover report from Twentyci suggests that other than London, the whole of England and Wales, at a regional level, has just under two months’ worth of property stock left to sell and the average asking price has risen in the last years.

It seems bonkers that according to the report the west midlands has seen an increase of nearly 19 per cent in asking prices during the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2019.

You would think that such positive figures would cause a more buoyant market. But these are unprecedented times.

So, what to do? If you wait to sell, do you risk rates and further inflation increases? It seems unlikely that prices will fall as the market self-corrects.

Keep checking the property portals so you can anticipate that moment when prices begin to level, as that, hopefully, post Spring, will be the time when the stalemate begins to cease."

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