Member Article

Silver Economy Continues to Show Good Levels of Growth with a 46% Increase in Exchanges

TwentyCi releases its National Property & Homemover Report – the most comprehensive real time review of the UK housing market

Findings include:

• Silver economy continues to show good levels of growth with a 46% increase in exchanges
• Property exchanges up nearly 8% compared to Q1 2017 and 14% increase in households starting the homemover journey
• Time to sale – 76.8 days in Q1, 7 days faster than 2017, while rentals rise in big cities
• No clear ‘statistical’ Brexit effect – new property listings flat year on year and average house price remains unchanged at £297k

The active growth in the property market for the 55+ age groups is undoubtedly fuelled by a combination of pension drawdown and equity retrieval as the baby boom generation accesses the wealth accumulated in their properties and pensions. Those aged 66+ exchanged 46% more properties in Q1 compared to Q1 2017, while the 46-65s exchanged 18% more. Nearly one in every five exchanges were represented by a flat, up 10% year on year.

Detached homes have seen the greatest levels of decline (12% reduction) in exchanges in the past year as more families appear to be improving rather than moving. Over half of all exchanges in Q1 were terraced and semi-detached houses, up nearly 17% year on year.

Colin Bradshaw, Chief Customer Officer at customer insights company, TwentyCi says:

“Nationally, property exchanges are up nearly 8% compared to Q1 2017, suggesting a continued building of confidence, stability and momentum in the market. Following the usual Q4 slowdown, Q1 has seen 100,000 more properties come on to the market. However, year on year we’ve only seen a 1% increase in listings, implying conversion rates have increased. The average house price remains unchanged at £297k.”

Keep calm and carry on – 14% increase in households planning a move

The latest TwentyCi Property & Homemover Report demonstrates a nationwide stability in the property market with the average house price remaining unchanged at £297k, along with a 14% growth in Q1 of 2018 of households entering the housemoving journey compared to the previous quarter, as many decide to keep calm and carry on with a property move following a return to market stability nationwide.

London (within the M25) saw a 3% growth in exchanges quarter on quarter while property exchanges are up nearly 8% compared to Q1 in 2017. While, in the last year, Northampton, Edinburgh and Glasgow were the three fastest places to sell a property.

An increase in demand in the East Midlands and East of England is driving a growth in the average asking price of properties year on year of 4% and 5% respectively. While property prices at the upper end (£2m plus), are experiencing a decline in volumes year on year. All other price brands in between are seeing growth levels as high as 12%.

Estate agents are also now selling properties faster than a year ago. In Q1 of 2018 it took an average of 76.8 days to sell a property, 7 days faster than in Q1 of 2017.

Colin Bradshaw, Chief Customer Officer at customer insights company, TwentyCi says:

“It is good to see stability coming into the market with prices remaining flat and some increase in activity. It should be noted that whilst we are getting a better shape on the future of Brexit there are many twists and turns ahead before we fully understand the post Brexit landscape.

“It is also clear the demand for flats and apartments in cities and large towns is on the rise. We are also seeing a big movement in buyers aged 66 and over moving to semi-detached properties. This infers either an increase in downsizing to release equity which we would expect to trickle into the economy, or alternatively older couples splitting up.”

Rentals rise in the big cities, while property prices remain static

Outside of London, all of the big cities have seen a large rise in the percentage of rental properties over the past year, and with Glasgow, Manchester and Leicester seeing the highest growth in rental prices by 6% over the past 12 months. Edinburgh is the only big city that did not see a large increase in the percentage of rental properties in the last year. The average property price in the big cities remains relatively static with some small growth, although Sheffield saw a slight decline in asking prices in the last quarter and last year.

In London year on year, all areas have seen a growth in the proportion of rental listings, with the exception of London West Central. The hottest area was North London which saw a 12% increase in rentals available since last year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by andrew baud .