The housing market is experiencing a rollercoaster year. With Brexit, Covid-19 and stamp duty changes all affecting the sector, it can be difficult to wrap your head around.
House prices are on the up, and property searches and transactions are too. But can we take these trends as a reflection on what will happen when the dust settles, and what did the property landscape look like before the stamp duty changes came into effect?
In order to find out, we carried out some research on Yorkshire – in particular, Kirklees’ – property sector.
In Yorkshire, in the year up to December 2019, house sales were down by 4.4%, a decrease of 3,754 transactions on the previous year.
When it came to Kirklees in particular, the picture was slightly brighter, with sales dropping at a slower rate of 3% (or 186 fewer sales than 2018), which compared better than property performance in Calderdale (-10.4%), Leeds (-5.2%) and Wakefield (-6.2%).
It is interesting to find that certain types of properties fared better than others, too. Detached property sales dropped by 4.7% to 19,800 in Yorkshire, whilst semi-detached sales fell by 1.5% to 29,430, terraced homes fell by 5.5% to 23,895 and apartments dropped by 11.9% to 6,704.
On the face of it, these figures may indicate that semi-detached properties are the safest bet when buying or renovating a property to flip or rent out at the moment.
But it is important not to live and die by these numbers. For example, the trend shows that flat sales have fallen dramatically, but as a landlord, you have to look at rental demand. There will always be a case for rental flats, which are still very much in need. Look at the area you are investing in and think about the target audience – if the flat has lift access, could you target elderly downsizers?
And whilst the number of transactions fell, house prices continued to rise. All regions of the UK saw house price increases, although some have seen a sharper increase, including Yorkshire (+3.1%) where prices increased from £160,000 to £165,000.
In Kirklees, prices increased more than the Yorkshire average (by 4%), meaning that the average house sold for £156,000 – a £6,000 increase on the year before.
This paints a positive picture, indicating that Kirklees and Yorkshire have a stable property market.
Nobody knows what the coming months will bring, but it’s fair to say that the foundations of a strong sector are there.
If you’re looking for mortgage advice in Huddersfield, Kirklees or West Yorkshire, please get in touch:
Please note: Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments