Gloucester Property Market Update - June 2024 (Pre-General Election)
Posted on 1st July 2024 at 18:48
With the general election just a few days away it has once again been an interesting time for the Gloucester property market. The surprise announcement of the election on 4th July has had little effect with the slight downturn in activity over the past few weeks very much in line with seasonal trends as we enter the summer months. It is likely that those people at the very start of their house buying journey have probably delayed their plans until Thursday’s result but if we look at historical property markets post previous general elections then we will see that the property market tends to remain fairly robust irrespective of which party gains power. A recent poll by Rightmove of 14000 people showed 95% of those would not be changing their home moving plans irrespective of Thursday’s result.
Buyer demand is currently up 6% on this time last year with the number of sales agreed being up 8% aided by the stock of homes for sale across the UK being 19% higher than for the same period in 2023. The average time taken to agree a sale in Gloucester is 51 days which is 7 days higher than last year but compares favourably with the South-West as a whole which stands at 63 days. Gloucester currently has 916 homes advertised for sale across the regions estate agents and this is up from 837 last year. Of those 499 have been on the market for 8 weeks or more and 377 have remained unsold for longer than 12 weeks. Several agents are carrying more than 30 available properties with some in excess of 50 and some getting close to 100 available unsold properties suggesting that there is a large stock of properties where either the advice of the agent on pricing has been wrong or the seller’s expectations are unrealistic. Either way it is worth looking closely at properties that appear outside of your budget that may have been on the market a long time if you are struggling to find your next home.
The mortgage market continues to change, almost daily and the past few days has seen a significant number of lenders reduce their mortgage rates. It was widely predicted that the base rate would be dropped in June, but the announcement of the general election put paid to that. It has not stopped lenders from acting in anticipation and with the likelihood of a base rate drop at the next Bank of England meeting significant it looks set for a positive end to the year for homeowners.
As always we love to hear your thoughts and are happy to answer any questions you may have so please feel free to message us, call 01452 260993 or email enquiries@rbwalters.co.uk
Tagged as: Advice For Homeowners, Property Market
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