Rightmove has announced that house prices in Yorkshire & The Humber have increased by 3.3% since March, and the annual change is 4.1%. The average asking price for our region from 13th May – 4th June is 97.8% in comparison to 96.8% previously in February of this year.
The housing market seems to be off to a strong start following the reopening of the market in May. Approximately 175,000 sellers would have put their properties on the market between March and May of this year, but instead have entered the market since it reopened.
John Watts, Managing Director of Robert Watts Sales, commented: “We are very pleased to see the success of the housing market since it reopened not only across the country but here in our region. I hope this gives both buyers and sellers to come to market in the near future.”
Rightmove data also shows that nationally the average asking price of property coming to market is up by an average of 1.9% (£6,266) compared to March before the housing market was put on hold.
There have been no signs of panic selling or a price dip, which is particularly significant for those who had agreed a sale before lockdown and may have been concerned that their buyer would try to re-negotiate with a reduced offer. Instead, there are signs of upward price pressure as opposed to downwards, and buyers hoping to negotiate hard may find their offer rejected in the current market.
When the housing market was initially closed as a result of lockdown, new sales were down 94% from the previous year. In the period 13th May – 4th June this figure reached 36% and is now down to just 3% on Friday 5th June in comparison to the same day in 2019.
Due to an increased amount of time spent at home, people have been feeling unhappy with their existing home and are looking for more living space and a bigger garden. Saturday 6th June was Rightmove’s busiest day on the site, with users collectively spending 955,000 hours online.
This increased browsing has also turned into action, as the number of people phoning and emailing estate agents hit a new daily record on 8th June, 40% above the level seen in early March. We have indeed witnessed an increased number of enquiries since the reopening of the market here at Robert Watts.
Are you looking at buying or selling a property? Contact our team for more information.
