Market Comment – June 2022
June was a month of mixed results and I don’t blame anybody for being slightly perplexed at what the pundits are writing about the property market. Save to say, I can just report on our figures and our position in June.
It is true that we saw inflation reach 9.1%, a 40 year high and interest rates were raised for the 5th time in a row to 1.25%, but whilst that may kerb spending, it did not kerb prospective purchasers making enquiries in June and whilst there are economic unknowns, it still seems that the housing market remains safe. Most pundits seem to agree that a crash seems unlikely, as the demand for housing still far outstrips the supply, and in this respect I agree with them.
Interestingly, our prospective enquiries from studio apartments to 5 bedroom detached houses were so similar to the same month the year before, which underpins my opinion that the housing market is safe. Once again, we saw different figures in the lettings market, whereby we registered more prospective tenants in June 2022 than any other month previously, hitting a record high and it was interesting to collate the figures to see that new lettings instructions were pretty much the same as last year. So once again, this underpins my sentiment and narrative that people are on the move and after two years of coronavirus and the restrictions this has apposed on people (understandably), this does not surprise me.
I was interested to read and article, saying that there are far too many people coming up in age and certainly many already there, that want there own place to live in, whether this be renting or purchasing and I agree with this sentiment.
Our New Homes and property management divisions remain at the very core of our business and our portfolio of 1,500 properties remains very solid, with some joint ventures with New Homes coming to the market in lane July.
Whilst this market comment is shorter than normal, I wanted to give our prospective from our figures and project the confidence that we are seeing with our enquiries and our results and if anyone would like to call or email me to discuss this further, please feel free.