With the election now over and the stability of Downing
Street secure, with David Cameron and his Blue Tories as the largest party in
Westminster, in Grantham (as in the rest of the UK) average wages are beginning
to grow faster than inflation. This is good news for the Grantham housing
market, as some buyers may be willing or able to pay higher
prices given the more certain political outlook and attractive
inexpensive mortgage rates. However, sellers who think they have the upper hand
due to the lack of property for sale should be aware that we should start to
see an increase in the number of people putting their properties on to the market
in Grantham giving buyers some extra negotiating power.
At the last election in May 2010,
there were 670 properties for sale in Grantham and by December 2010, this had
risen to 763, an impressive rise of 14% in seven months. An increase in the
supply of properties coming on to the market could tip the balance in the demand
and supply economics seesaw, thus potentially denting prices. However, as most
sellers are buyers and confidence is high, this means there will be good levels
of property and buyers, well into the summer, as demand will continue to slightly
outstrip supply.
Just before we leave the run up to the election, it is
important to consider what the uncertainty in April did to the Grantham property
market. I mentioned a few weeks ago that property values (ie what properties
were actually selling for) had risen by 0.2% in March 2015. Now new data has
been released from Rightmove about April’s asking prices of property in Grantham.
It shows that pre-election nerves finally came home to roost in the final weeks
of electioneering, with the average price of property coming to market only
increasing by a very modest 0.7% (April is normally one of the best months of the
year for house price growth).
I am sure our local MP, Nicholas Boles, would agree that the
biggest issue is the lack of new properties being built in Grantham. The
Conservative manifesto pledged to build 200,000 discounted starter homes for
first-time buyers in the next five years. For Grantham to gets its share, that
would mean only 33 such properties being built in Grantham each year for the
next five years, not much when you consider there are 17,944 properties in Grantham.
Housing is not a big issue for Conservative voters and
because London is an increasingly Labour city where the biggest housing issues
are found by a country mile, so will it remain on the ‘to do list’ but won’t
get recognition it deserves. Until another political party gets back into power,
nothing will seismically change in the property market, thus demand for housing
will continue to outstrip supply, meaning property values will increase (good
news for landlords). However, as rents tend to go up and down with tenant
wages, in the long term, rents are still 4.86% lower than they were in 2008 (good
news for tenants)... with renting everyone wins!
For more thoughts on the Grantham Property Market .. visit
the Grantham Property Market Blog www.granthampropertyblog.blogspot.co.uk/
