Property Values Increased by 0.6% in Heath last
month
Property values in Heath increased
by 0.6% last month. This follows several months of sluggish activity in the Cardiff
property market in the run up to the Christmas, putting the average price of a
property in Heath at £251,600, 3.6% higher than a year ago. Interestingly, the
Council of Mortgage Lenders and Estate Agent trade bodies over the last few
months have reported seeing a fall in mortgage lending and enquiries from
prospective homebuyers.
However, this is NOT being seen
in Heath. The Land Registry have just published their latest set of data for
Heath, and in October 2015 (the most recent of data available), 24 properties
sold and completed. October is not normally
a busy month, but the figures tell another story as those 24 sales represented
9.37% of the last 12 months property sales in the area.
This is important because it
comes amid an overall fall in housing market activity in Cardiff. Data from the
Land Registry show that as the number of property sales in Heath is rising,
completed property sales in Cardiff in the last half of 2015, (the most
up-to-date figures available) fell by 32.3%.
As I write this article, over the
last 63 days (i.e. the last two months) of the 52 new properties that have come
onto to the market in Heath, 13 of those properties have found a buyer and sold
subject to contract (or exactly 25%). When we compare that to the whole of
Cardiff (excluding Heath), in those same 63 days, 1,296 properties have come on
to the market, yet an impressive 32.25% of those homeowners have found a buyer
(i.e. 418 properties). In view of those figures, it is still vital to
realistically price your Heath property if you are going to find a buyer.
I still maintain the view that
house prices are likely to rise by around 3 to 4% in Heath in 2016. The reason
being is that the rise reflects both strong economic conditions in the City and
steady market conditions with (and this is the most important factor) very low
numbers of properties on the market.
Finally, if you are ever passing by the office on Whitchurch Road, pop
in for coffee and let’s have chat about the Heath Property Market it will be
good to see you.
