Market Report For The First Half Of 2016
20 May, 2016
I think it's fair to say that whatever has happened to the property marketing in Worthing, Lancing and Goring where our offices are based, it's been a very busy one for us.
Our Lancing office is now 18 months old and has been increasing its share of the market very well and as many people may know, we've recently moved our Worthing office from Rowlands Road - which was a very happy place to work - into our swish new office in Guildbourne Centre/Chapel Road.
Not only have we been selling and letting properties around the area, but we've also been (like many home owners) choosing wall paper, carpets, furniture and wrestling with IT to try and get it working on our new branch.
We opened in March and we've really settled in well and had a great response from anyone who has visited us.
The market in the area seems to be holding strong in some ways against the odds when you consider that there have been quite drastic changes to stamp duty for buy-to-let investors and second homeowners, additional landlord taxes and of course the BREXIT vote which you would normally think would create a lot of uncertainty.
In spite of all of this, sales and lettings are still very buoyant and the first half of this year has seen an increase in prices of somewhere in the region of 5% and rents have increased by up to 7%. This is far more than the usual rate of underlying inflation and just goes to show that scarcity of property in our coastal towns is driving demand as much as ever.
We expect the second half of the year to slow down a little particularly as the flow of interest from buy-to-let landlords trying to beat the new stamp duty deadline of the first of April will have passed and of course if we exit Europe we will be stepping into the unknown which will be bound to have an effect on prices.
We still expect to see around 7% growth and 8-9% in terms of selling prices and rents respectively. The volumes of business that we've been doing as a company has increased very well, a real testament to the hard work and determination of our fantastic team. We tend to be found in position one or two in Worthing, Goring and Lancing when comparing volume of stock, speed of sale, or asking price, the three main factors for any estate agency business!
We think that this is a real achievement which we firmly aim to build on.
So what does the future hold?
Lots of hard work for our existing clients and of course trying to find new sellers to suit the many waiting buyers that we have registered.
We will also do some interesting charity events to raise money for good local causes, we’ve got some quite wacky ideas so watch this space!
All in all, 2016 is shaping to be a really interesting year for us and the local property market.