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Adapted from a Zoopla article by Nicky Burridge 30 October 2019
The time it takes to sell a home across UK cities has hit a three-year high with vendors knocking nearly £10,000 off their asking price to secure a sale.
The typical property now takes more than 12 weeks to sell, compared with an average of just eight weeks in 2016, according to the latest Zoopla Cities House Price Index. The average house price in Bristol as of September 2019 is £285,600. Sales times are even longer in markets where affordability has become stretched, with properties in London and Oxford taking more than 14 weeks to find a buyer.
Homeowners are accepting offers that are an average of £9,800 or 3.8% below the price at which their property was listed in order to clinch a sale.
Where is the housing market currently strongest?
While Brexit uncertainty is continuing to impact overall sentiment, the affordability of property has a bigger impact on market dynamics at a city level.
Market conditions continue to be strongest in the Midlands and north of England, where rising employment levels and attractive affordability are driving demand. As a result, in three-quarters of cities in these regions homes took between 8.4 and 9.5 weeks to sell. Vendors also accepted the smallest discounts of just 2% to 3% off their original asking price.
Sales were fastest in Glasgow and Edinburgh with homes taking just five to six weeks to sell, although the sales process is different in Scotland, with buyers given more information upfront.
The two cities were also the only ones in the UK not to register a discount, with properties typically marketed as ‘offers over’ and selling for 6% to 7% above their asking
Where is the market weakest?
By contrast, housing market conditions are weakest in London, Oxford and Aberdeen. Not only are properties in these places taking an average of more than 14 weeks to sell, but homeowners are also having to accept the biggest discounts or nearly 5%.
Aberdeen has the weakest market conditions as a result of the fall in the oil price, with the average house price now £46,969 lower than it was in mid-2015. Discounts on asking prices were biggest for homes in inner London, with properties selling for an average of 7.6% or £49,824 less than they were marketed for.
What’s happening to house prices?
House prices in UK cities rose by an average of 2.4% in the year to the end of September but there continued to be significant regional variation.
Growth remains strongest in northern regions and the Midlands, with Leicester seeing the biggest year-on-year gains of 4.5%, followed closely by Manchester and Liverpool at 4.4% and 4.3% respectively.
Belfast, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Birmingham all recorded annual gains of more than 3.5% in property values. At the other end of the scale, house prices are continuing to fall in Aberdeen, losing 5.5% of their value during the past year, while they edged 0.9% lower in Oxford.
Growth was also subdued in London, with prices rising by only 0.1% year-on-year, while gains were below 1% in Cambridge, Southampton and Portsmouth.
Richard Donnell, Research and Insight Director at Zoopla, said: “Market conditions are set to remain weak in southern cities until pricing levels adjust to what buyers are willing, or can afford, to pay. “London is three years into a re-pricing process, and we expect sales volumes to slowly improve over 2020, while house price growth remains subdued.”
Top 3 takeaways
- The time it takes to sell a home across UK cities has hit a three-year high with vendors knocking nearly £10,000 off their asking price to secure a sale
- The typical property now takes more than 12 weeks to sell, compared with an average of just eight weeks in 2016, according to our latest Zoopla Cities House Price Index.
- Sales times are even longer in markets where affordability has become stretched, with properties in London and Oxford taking more than 14 weeks to find a buyer
If you would like to discuss your borrowing potential before deciding to put your house on the market, We can also discuss your options regarding re-mortgaging as an alternative.
For further details and to book your FREE CONSULTATION with one of our expert Mortgage Advisers please contact us
Bristol Mortgages Online www.bristolmortgagesonline.comTel 0117 325 1511
Bath Mortgages Online www.bathmortgagesonline.com Tel 01225 584 888
Exeter Mortgages Online www.exetermortgagesonline.com Tel 01392 690 888
Email info@swmortgages.com
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