House prices in Notts set for lift off in 2014 - so buy now
01-03-2014
By Nottingham Post By Gemma Toulson
Property market: For Sale signs in Nottingham.
ESTATE agents are telling prospective homeowners to "buy now" as house prices in Notts are expected to climb this year.
Latest figures from the Land Registry show that prices across the county have increased over the past 12 months – with the average home now going for £121,185.
This is almost two per cent higher than a year ago and prices are expected to go up again as consumer confidence grows.
Jordan Walker-Brown, negotiator at William H Brown in Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham, said: "We have not stopped being busy all through December.
"There's going to be a lot more first-time buyers and a lot of people buying properties to let in 2014, which will impact on prices.
"If you're going to buy, buy now."
Latest figures from the Land Registry for November show that the market is stronger now than in November 2012, when there was no growth over the previous 12 months.
It was also a brighter picture than two years ago in 2011, when an average Notts home cost £119,584 – four per cent down on the year before.
Across England and Wales the average home now costs £165,411 – an increase of 3.2 per cent on last year.
Notts estate agents believe prices could rise by about two per cent again this year – the snowball effect of a rise in property transactions.
Paul Merritt, director at Robert Ellis Estate Agents, in High Road, Beeston, said: "I think it will be busy again this year. We saw more sales at the end of 2013 because everyone is talking nationally about how positive things are."
"I would expect the rise in prices to be the same as in 2013, if not a little bit better."
During the year areas which have seen some strong growth in house prices include Rushcliffe, Broxtowe, and Newark and Sherwood, while prices have been less buoyant in Gedling and Ashfield. In the city, house prices look to have stabilised and are in line with those recorded last year, with the average home costing £83,602 in November.
This is an improved outlook from November 2012, when prices were one per cent down on the previous year and the same period in 2011, when city house prices fell to three per cent lower than those recorded in November 2010.
There are fears the rising prices may put off first-time buyers, but estate agents hope the Government's Help to Buy programme, which provides low-deposit mortgages, will help.
Laura Keane, 33, an account manager at European Metal Recycling, on the Dunkirk Industrial Estate in Nottingham, bought a new home in Carlton with her husband Barry in October. She said: "We bought our house a few months ago and we are really pleased that we acted before the house prices went up."
Nationally, the number of homes being sold in the UK has risen by 24 per cent over the last year, according to HM Revenue and Customs. Mortgage lender Halifax said house prices in the UK had gone up seven per cent last year, driven by rising property prices in the south of England.
NOTTS estate agents expect 2014 to be a positive year for the housing market.
This month has already proven to be a busy period for agents across Notts as the property market looks set for a turnaround.
Latest available figures from the Land Registry's House Price Index show an almost two per cent increase in sales of homes across the county over the past year.
These figures could be buoyed in 2014 by the Help to Buy programme, which was launched in October and provides Government-backed low-deposit mortgages to help first time buyers get onto the property ladder.
Amy Tillson, associate partner at Richard Watkinson and Partners in Market Street, Nottingham, said: "I am optimistic. I think prices will stay firm. Certainly the back end of this year – the last quarter – was extremely buoyant in comparison to last year, so if this quarter is anything to go by we are optimistic.
"We just want to see a steady market. The Help to Buy scheme looks to be helping. I think instructions have been slower so the restriction is in the back end of the market."
Paul Merritt, director at Robert Ellis Estate Agents, in High Road, Beeston, said: "I think it will be busier and everyone expects prices to go up. I have a degree more caution in that we are still having difficulty finding first-time buyers.
"There are some schemes from the Government helping new home owners. But the Help to Buy scheme isn't a particularly cheap option in that the percentage they charge isn't as good as if you walked into an estate agents with a deposit."
The most recent figures available from the Land Registry, for November, revealed that the average price for a detached home in Nottingham now stands at £148,970, while a semi-detached property is £83,440 and the average terrace home now sells for £59,595. But buyers can expect to pay £121,493 for a flat in the city.
The county-wide figures showed that buyers pay around £186,006 for a detached home, the average semi-detached home will sell for £96,108, while a terrace home in Notts will sell for £69,986 and the average flat is on the market for £75,250.
Meanwhile, two Notts streets have been named in the Midlands' top-ten most expensive.
Croft Road, in Edwalton, has been ranked the region's fourth highest valued street, with homes costing on average £1,001,000.
Nearby Valley Road, in West Bridgford, is ninth in the list, with an average house price of £815,000.
The ranking, complied by Lloyds Bank, is based on all housing transactions between January 2008 and October 2013 recorded by the Land Registry.
Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Lloyds Bank, said: "Unlike in other parts of the country, the ten most expensive addresses in the Midlands are widely spread around the region."
Croft Road resident Phil Spick, 43, said: "It's a lovely place to live. We have very nice neighbours."
And Belinda Brown, 49, said: "It's lovely and safe and everyone is friendly. It's a nice place to live."
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