As we approach the midway point in 2024 it seems timely to review how the property market has performed this year and in particular in May, whilst also using the data available to help us forecast what is likely to come in the months ahead.
In general terms the property market on the Wirral has been strong in 2024. Despite a slower start in January, each month that has followed has seen progressively more properties brought to the market. By way of a comparison, the first 5 months of 2023 saw around 3800 new properties brought to market across the Wirral, where as in 2024 this figure sits at in excess of 4100, an increase of around 8%, a strong indicator of confidence in the market and desire to move.
Ultimately Vendors come to the market in pursuit of a sale and data suggests that 2024 has also seen more sales on the Wirral than the corresponding period in 2023, with the market up circa 11%.
In further good news, we haven’t seen the drop in house prices that some commentators had forecast and although Vendors are still needing to be priced realistically to achieve a sale, drops of up to 5% which had been mooted thankfully appear to be wide of the mark, in fact we believe that prices have remained stable on 2023 levels whilst Rightmove have an even more optimistic viewpoint reporting UK prices are on the rise, albeit marginally.
May in particular has been a strong month with core market indicators such as new applicants registered, listings to market and sales agreed all surpassing traditional levels for May.
Looking forward, as the cost of living crises continues to ease, inflation rates getting progressively closer to the Governments 2% target and an expectation that interest rates will follow suit later in the year, with the banks reflecting this in more attractive mortgage products as the year progresses (we have already seen recent evidence of this with big lenders such as HSBC & Halifax dropping rates) there is good reasons to suggest that strong market we have seen so far this year can continue.
Of course, we have a general election looming at the start of July with polling data suggesting a change of Government likely. No market likes uncertainty but all of the factors highlighted above would lead us to be cautiously optimistic that the current status quo will remain.
