What can we expect from the Property Market in 2016?

Firstly, Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you had an enjoyable Christmas.

One question I was asked a few times over the festive period was whether the property market will continue to grow in 2016. In my opinion, the signs are good.

Halifax forecasts that house prices will grow between 4% to 6% this year, which is slightly slower than 2015, which saw a 9.7% annual growth. This steady and continued growth is fueled by lack of supply, shortage of new build developments, and indeed a homeowners fear that they may not be able to secure, or indeed afford, upgraded accommodation.

Buy-to-let continues to go from strength to strength, with lending in this market at a post-recession high. The main drivers for growth in the sector remain in place; restricted housing supply, high net migration, limited affordability and restrictions on lending.

In November, The Chancellor announced in his Autumn Statement that buy-to-let purchasers would face an additional 3% surcharge on each band of their stamp duty land tax bill, beginning in April this year. Some within the property industry have described this as a “catastrophe”, however in reality, I believe that landlords will simply factorise their additional costs into their offer price. Buy-to-let purchaser’s ability to complete quick transactions, with typically larger cash injections, and less lending restrictions, means that there is a better chance of a sale completing, thus always making this profile of buyer more attractive to a seller.

With these stamp duty changes on the horizon, we expect to see short-term benefits to the buy-to-let market, as prospective investors look to bring forward their purchases to beat the April deadline.

As a company, Martin & Co have quickly established themselves as the lettings specialist in the Chichester area, and we are proud to announce that we have now entered the property sales market. The reason for this recent addition is largely down to area demand and repeated requests from our current landlords to offer this service to either sell their rental properties and/or re-invest or expand their portfolios locally.

If you are considering selling your property this year, please come and talk to us in the first instance, as we have an active ever-growing database of landlords actively looking to invest.

Wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year.