Get a head of game ... if you want to move this spring
Speedy Yorkshire transactions are sending the property market forward.
If you want to move this spring it pays to get ahead of the game, warns Ben Pridden, a director at Hewetson and Johnson estate agency, because some Yorkshire homes are selling within a matter of days.
“We’re experiencing record times from expression of interest to exchange on the best houses,” he says.
According to property portal Zoopla, Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the fastest-moving markets in the UK, with sales agreed on properties in an average of just 38 days from the point of listing.
“I am also valuing houses ready to put on the market where the seller is getting everything ready with their home, waiting to press the button as soon as they have found somewhere they want to buy,” Pridden continues.
“But they will wait. Go too soon and they could risk ending up homeless, or at least having to find a short-term rental, and they are in short supply too.”
This scenario is happening because there is both a shortage of stock in Yorkshire, and also, savvy sellers are holding on until the last possible minute in a bid to ensure that they achieve the maximum selling price for their property.
Pridden concedes that this is a gamble. However, sellers are buoyed up by the news that Yorkshire prices appear to be going only one way for the foreseeable future.
“Average home prices in Yorkshire and the Humber have climbed by 5.2 per cent over the last year, above the 4.1 per cent average across the UK,” says Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla.
“The average value of a house has risen by 5.9 per cent, while flat values are up 2.9 per cent. These price rises underline the demand in the market, with affordability levels underpinning activity.”
Harrogate-based property search agent Julian Rich, a partner with Garrington Property Finders in the North of England, says that he is seeing huge demand for Yorkshire properties which have space for people to work from home: “Even the Nationwide building society has announced that any of their staff can work from anywhere.
“Why not go and live by the sea, or in the countryside? Good broadband speeds are essential, but if you find the ideal property in a location where the broadband is less than good there are ways to boost it if you take the advice of a local specialist broadband firm. I would always advise that.”
The Stamp Duty holiday, extended in the Budget by Chancellor Rishi Sunak until the end of September (with a tapered reduction from the end of June), is also propelling buyers into action.
Until July, no Stamp Duty will be due on the first £500,000 of any primary residential property. Between July 1 and September
30, no Stamp Duty will be due on the first £250,000 of any primary residential property.
Then from October, normal Stamp Duty will resume; this means a sliding scale starting at two per cent for properties between £125,001-£250,000, unless you’re a first-time buyer, when the entry level for Stamp Duty is £300,000.
Gilmore points out that some 73 per cent of homes listed for sale in the Yorkshire and Humber region are priced at less than £250,000, making them ‘Stamp Duty free’ for those who complete a purchase before October.
Sheffield is leading the field here, boasting some of the quickest turnarounds in the UK, with the most popular properties, three-bedroom semi-detached houses between £150,000 and £200,000, going from on the market to sale agreed within an astonishing 28 days.
In England, it’s beaten only by Wigan in Lancashire and Redditch in the West Midlands, both standing at an average of 27 days.
However, it is one thing to find a committed buyer, quite another to proceed to a swift and trouble-free exchange and completion.
Rich says that he had one buyer who wanted to be so ahead of the game that he applied for local authority searches on the property he wanted to buy even before his offer had been agreed.
At his prime end of the market, where clients may have private family solicitors retained for “donkey’s years” he hasn’t noticed a discernible delay, with most sales progressing to exchange of contracts after offers have been accepted within six to seven weeks.
Elsewhere, however, it’s no secret that solicitors and conveyancing companies are overburdened with work, searches delayed and surveyors run off their feet, because of restricted working hours and social distancing measures.
Colby Short, founder and CEO of getagent.co.uk, a property comparison site, suggests that in Yorkshire right now you can expect an average of 180 days from listing to complete a sale – and that’s 18 days shorter than the England and Wales average. Best get organised then if you’re hoping to move before the nights start drawing in.
Average home prices in Yorkshire and the Humber have climbed by 5.2 per cent over the last year.