By 2017 has started with some positive interest in the Medway property market. Taking a snap shot of the Medway property market for the first quarter of 2017, the picture suggests some interesting trends when it comes to the number of properties available to buy, their asking prices and what prices properties are actually selling for.
Let us first consider the number of properties for sale in Medway compared to 12 months ago:
Type of Medway property | Number of properties on the market 12 months ago | Number of properties on the market now | % change |
Detached | 51 | 51 | No change% |
Semi | 83 | 96 | +16% |
Terraced | 110 | 177 | +61% |
Flat | 100 | 131 | +31% |
So, when we add in building plots (and other types of properties that don’t fit into the four main categories), that means there are 476 properties for sale today compared with 393 a year ago. This is a rise of 21%.
Next; Medway asking prices, compared to the same as a year ago, are 3% higher.
With that in mind, I wanted to look at what property was actually selling for in Medway. Taking my information from the Land Registry, the last available six months property transactions show an interesting picture (note the Land Registry data is always a few months behind due to the nature of the house buying process and so November 2016 is latest set of data). The price shown is the average price paid and the number in brackets is the number of properties actually sold:
Jun-16 | Jul-16 | Aug-16 | Sep-16 | Oct-16 | Nov-16 | |
Detached | £379,607 (14) | £376,750 (12) | £301,773 (11) | £356,467 (15) | £404,956 (9) | £376,077 (13) |
Semi Detached | £242,510 (24) | £249,679 (28) | £252,933 (30) | £251,842 (19) | £287,909 (22) | £244,010 (24) |
Terraced | £206,757 (34) | £206,026 (33) | £204,263 (39) | £213,018 (43) | £207,229 (35) | £211,585 (33) |
Flat | £136,583 (6) | £134,972 (9) | £136,375 (4) | £127,100 (5) | £137,000 (3) | £122,300 (5) |
All | £243,384 (78) | £238,117 (82) | £231,181 (84) | £243,015 (82) | £255,690 (69) | £244,520 (75) |
So what does all this mean for the property owning folk of Medway?
Well, with more property on the market than a year ago and asking prices 3% higher, those trying to sell their property need to be mindful that buyers, be they first timers, buy to let landlords or people moving up the Medway property ladder, have much more price information about the Medway property market at their fingertips than ever before.
Those Medway people who are looking to sell their property in 2017, need to be aware of the risks of over pricing their property when initially placing it on the market. Over the last 12 months, I have noticed the approach of a few Medway estate agents is to suggest an inflated asking price to encourage the homeowner and secure the property to sell on their books. The down side to this is that when offered to the market for the first time, buyers will realise it is overpriced and wont waste their time asking for further details. They won’t even view the property, let alone make an offer. So when the price is reduced a few months later, the property has become market stale and continues to be ignored.
Whilst the Medway property-market has an unassailable demand for property – there is one saying that always rings true - as long as the property is being marketed at the right price it will sell.