Looking Back at 2016 and the Ware property market....

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Well, hasn’t 2016 been an eventful year. The ups and downs of Brexit, the Queen’s 90th, Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, Trump, Bake Off to Channel 4 and something close to the hearts of every buy to let landlord and homeowner in the Ware region, The Ware property market.

So, let’s look at the headlines; 

In the last three months of 2016, Ware property values rose by 1.14%  leaving them, year on year 8.6% higher,  which goes to show that the Ware property market has recovered well after the summer lull, which was worsened by the uncertainty surrounding the EU vote back in June. Irrespective of all the issues, the average value of a Ware home now stands at £480,780

Generally, Ware region property asking prices continue to hold up well, as at this time of year, asking prices tend to drop on the run up to Christmas and into January.

Now it’s true to say, after chatting with fellow property professionals in the Ware region all of us have seen the number of property sales fall slightly, suggesting a slowing market, but it is very early days and it could be the time of year. Also, the numbers are limited, so it’s interesting to take note from a recent survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, stating new buyer enquiries and new instructions are falling at the same rate, suggesting that there will not be a downward pressure on property values.

Looking at the figures for the UK, as we can’t just look at Ware  in isolation, property values are generally rising slower than a few years ago, but on a positive note, there’s still growth across the UK. You see, slowing property value growth isn’t solely Brexit related, but after a number years of double digit rises in property values, affordability has weakened and cooling price growth is widely seen to be a natural correction of the market.

The cut in interest rates in the late summer was the medicine for the post-Brexit worry and will, as a consequence, ensure that the UK economy continues to be underpinned by buoyant property prices.

lets look closer at the numbers for the last three months......

Flats & Maisonettes sold for a current average of £243,361

Terraced properties sold for a current average value of £387,816 

Semi-detached properties sold for a current average of £459,800

Detached properties sold for a current average value of £669,500 

So, what will happen in 2017 in the Ware property market?

Some say until we know what type of exit the UK will make from the EU it is hard to evaluate the outcome. Although, I believe, the whole Brexit issue is a sideshow to the main issue in the UK and more importantly to us the Ware region housing market as a whole. As I have mentioned previously the biggest issue is demand outstripping supply when it comes to the number of households required to house us all locally. 

Ware, Hertford, Hoddesdon and the surrounding Villages  has an ever-growing population: with immigration (we still have at least two years of free movement from EU members into the UK), people living longer and the fact we need thousands of additional households as the country has nearly 115,000 divorces a year (where one household becomes two households).  These are interesting times ahead!

*figures correct as of 18/01/2016 - source ZPG

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I have been in and around the Hertfordshire property market for over 25 years, starting as an estate agent in the county town of Hertford and now running a successful lettings and property management company based in Stanstead Abbotts. I have let and managed property all over Hertfordshire from the area that I currently work to Wheathampstead where I owned and managed a lettings & estate agents to Watford and surrounding areas where my company acted as a marketing agent for one of the largest property management companies in the country”