Romans, the South East of England’s number one multidisciplinary property services company, have published their property market forecast for 2016 via the company website.
For those of us involved in the UK property market (whether buying, selling, renting or commentating on), it’s an unpredictable time, but it’s definitely worth summing up the experiences of 2015 to see if we can gain some foresight into what might lie ahead for the next months.
The UK housing market, as everyone knows, has been slowly improving throughout 2015 and despite government lip service being paid to nationwide concerns about younger generations not being able to get on the property ladder, and the increase in the cost of renting, this resolute course shows little sign of suddenly following a divergent path.
According to Office for National Statistics data published last October, nationwide housing prices had risen 7% over the previous 12 months, and most surveyors forecast that this overall number will stay broadly the same over the advancing year. These projections are linked mainly to lagging new build development, and the continuation of demand outstripping supply - an ongoing bias which can only mean more activity on the property market.
Many might have thought that measures such as the 3% surcharge on Stamp Duty when purchasing a second property, £2.3bn of government money being paid to developers to build starter homes, and a 20% discount for first time buyers might encourage overall prices to level off, but few are now predicting so.
Most industry experts are predicting no real changes in property market tendencies over the next 12 months and here at Romans, we feel much the same, especially in the South East of England – an area that has fared well, even when the rest of the UK has struggled.
Peter Coles, Group Managing Director at Romans said:
“I believe house prices will rise by 5-10% in most of the towns we cover and the increases will predominantly be seen in the first half of the year.”
“Higher increases will prevail in the towns which are attracting more competition between first time buyers and investors including Basingstoke, Bracknell, Guildford, Maidenhead, Reading and West Drayton." Peter added:
“We have produced a table which breaks down our region, town-by-town, and not only provides specific predicted percentage price rises for each of these, but also details what it is that we anticipate will directly affect pricing for those places.”
To gain the benefit of dedicated local expertise, internet users can visit the Romans website or call into one of our many local branches where our expert property specialists will be more than happy to discuss your requirements in more detail.
For an up to date valuation on your property, talk to the team at your local Romans branch , where we will put you through to the correct department.
The Romans Group has been helping customers to buy and sell property across Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxford and Surrey for the past 25 years. They are market leaders and are the leading estate agents in Caversham and other property hot spots in the South East. They have extensive local market knowledge and the highest levels of customer service.
Romans offers residential and commercial sales and lettings as well as providing surveying and valuations; mortgage services, and; land, planning and development services. They also operate one of the leading auction houses in the South East of England which holds several auctions each year to sell a diverse range of property types.
