The Brexit vote and the Medway property market.

Medway Property Values rise by 0.8% month on month

Like many property-people, caffeine forms a vital part of my day so I often have a coffee at The Rochester Coffee Company on the High Street in Rochester. Whilst enjoying my latte the other day, a suited gentleman approached me and asked if I was the person who wrote the newsletters about the Medway property market. We ended up having an interesting chat about the local property market as he was concerned his daughter would never be able to buy her own property; a place in Medway she herself can call home.

My latest analysis, using the Land Registry and Office of National Statistics, shows that overall, month on month, Medway property values increased by 0.8%. The year on year figures showed that the value of residential property in Medway has increased by 9.0% in the year to the end February 2016, taking the average value of a property in the council area to £227,500.

It gets even more interesting when we look at the last few months’ figures and see the patterns that seem to be emerging.

·      January 2016             - a rise of 0.6%
·      December 2015         - a rise of 0.7%
·      November 2015         - a rise of 0.6%



House prices continue to rise in the Medway area.


We have talked in many recent articles about the lack of properties being built in Medway over the last 30 years. This lack of new building has been the biggest factor that has contributed to Medway property values still being 246.59% higher than in 1995. At the risk of repeating myself, until the Government addresses this issue, and allows more properties to be built, things will continue to get worse. The UK population grows at just under 500,000 people a year (which is a combination of around 226,000 people because of higher birth rates/people living longer and 259,000 net migration) whilst the country is only building 152,400 properties a year – no wonder demand continues to outstrip supply.

We are still not building enough new homes.

Another reason intensifying the current level of property values in Medway, is the fact that people aren’t moving home as much as they used to. This means that fewer properties are coming onto the market for sale, so in consequence, there is a lack of choice of property to buy, meaning people thinking of moving are discouraged from putting their own property on the market . So the problem becomes self-perpetuating, as the scarcity of possible properties to buy in order to move also deters people from offering their own home for sale. This unevenness between demand from would-be purchasers and the number of properties coming on to the market for sale is causing pressure in Medway (and the rest of the UK).


So what of the future of the Medway property market and this man’s daughter? I firmly believe that people in Medway and, in fact, the country as a whole is changing its attitude about homeownership. Back in the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s getting on the property ladder was everything. Since the late 1990’s, we as a country (in particular, the young) have slowly started to change our attitude to homeownership. We are moving to a more European model, where people choose to rent in their 20’s and 30’s (meaning they can move freely and not be tied to a property), then inherit money in their 50’s when their property owning parents pass away, allowing them to buy property themselves, just like they do in Germany and other sophisticated and mature European counties. So I feel this gents daughter will end up owning property, but just later in life than we did. So, whatever the vote on the 23rd of June, if you think about it, we might already be more European than we think!

I welcome your comments or questions about. this article or any property related matter you may need help with. Feel free to email me HERE

Thanks for reading.

Spencer Fortag MARLA MNAEA



Where are my numbers from?

·      Stats for Property Values and Percentages based on Land Reg figures for Medway council.  The value has been rounded to the nearest £100

·      Stats for 1995 from the Land Register for Medway


·      Birth rate and Migration – Office of National Stats for 2015 – the latest figures they have.

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