Market Comment – October 2018

Octobers statistics for all of our offices and nationwide can best be described as stable and solid, and I note with interest that the BBC have reported today that house prices rose 1.6% in October 2018 compared with October 2017. In the same article, it goes on to say prices were flat after a 0.2% rise in September according to Nationwide, and I treat this as positive news that the market is holding firm and steady.

A few days ago, there was positively good news in the budget, in that the chancellor Phillip Hammond announced that the help to buy scheme would now end in 2023, an extension of two years.

I also noted with positivity the article in the Homes and Property, under the section ‘Brexit news latest’ that there are positive economic indicators under pinning an optimistic housing outlook, predicting a 14.3% house price growth across the wider greater London area in the next 5 years.

The average price of a new build home in zones 1 and 2 is expected to jump 17.6% between Brexit and 2023 according to housing market forecaster JLL, published in the last few days.

Reading all the Brexit reports, I have concluded that the housing market is much like all commodity’s, in that in this period of uncertainty, prospective tenants, purchasers and indeed investors will always wonder what the consequences are, but the two bigger market drivers i.e. supply and demand, confidence and appetite is also very positive, and don’t believe all that you read.

I was very pleased with Octobers figures across our group, with there being an unprecedented spike in prospective new tenants registering. To give you an example, our Crystal Palace office registered 77 new prospective tenants in week 3 of October. Prospective purchasers were also up but marginally, and very much more encouraging, was new home/ help to buy enquiries.

Looking at all the indicators, I have no reason to believe that our figures, my team and I’s positivity and the ammount of new enquiries both for lettings and sales will equal to a very good November.

On a company level, we were delighted to win bronze best medium sales in the South East England and also Silver best medium lettings in the South East England at our industry’s most converted awards. Also after successfully running four recruitment open days, we are delighted to welcome 7 new members of staff and in a scooped Streets Ahead, Danny Poulton-Midani is now heading up our Central Croydon Branch at 263 High Street, Croydon and this is particularly exciting for us as Danny has been a leading Estate Agent in the Shirley area for a corporate Estate Agent for over 10 years.

I look forward to reporting to you at the end of the month.