What next for the property market in Northamptonshire
It’s been quite a worrying time over the last few weeks, with all different factors coming together to ring alarm bells for the over-heating property market, but what is the situation in Northamptonshire and should you hold-off on any plans to move?
Despite the fact that there will invariably be some sort of correction for the sought after pockets that clearly achieved unrealistic prices over the last year or two, for the main part, Northamptonshire has not experienced any unrealistic prices, but even so, there may still be some downward pressure. The direction of interest rates has recently been upwards, but where they will peak is still unclear, as the effects of the existing rises is yet to filter through in to statistics on final selling prices.
One thing is for certain, the property market is much more sensitive to rises today, than it was in the past, therefore exponential rises will probably not be needed to slow things down significantly, but even so, due to the large volume of property that has been bought up by investors over the last decade or two, there is still a significant shortage of entry level property, coming to market, as investors tend to hang on to their properties long-term, whereas homeowners tend to move every 5/6 years.
Even though there has been a significant number of landlords exiting the Buy to Let market over the last few years, those properties have easily been taken up by first-time-buyers and larger investors, who are still buying in large quantities, such as Lloyds Bank, who announced that they plan to be the UKs largest landlord by 2025.
Therefore, first time buyers who are savvy, should use the forthcoming year to bag themselves a bargain, provided that their figures stack up in the short term, until rates begin to come down again, which they will, we need only look at the 5 year terms that lenders are offering, which are cheaper than their 2 year deals on average, which indicates that they expect interest rates to begin falling after the end of year two, otherwise they would not offer them in the first place.
As for home-movers, a falling market is not a time to wait, for the main part, it is actually a good time to consider moving up, as any fall in prices is normally by percentage and therefore, the higher the price, the greater the fall, which could translate in to maybe taking an offer on your own home, but you would be making a larger saving on the next property, resulting in a material gain.
The most important factor that applies over the next year or two, is to ensure that you are able to cover any rise in interest rates, which may require some sacrifices, but with Northamptonshire being a booming county, with far more jobs available than there are candidates, there is no reason for any short term fall, not to be out-weighed by gains in the medium to long term.