Oxfordshire

A New Year, A New Housing Market

As we approach the New Year, once again the experts speculate on what will happen to house prices in the New Year, http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/poll/2011/dec/20/house-prices-2012-expert-predictions?newsfeed=true

In the Times today new figures from the Land Registry show that the most expensive house purchase of 2011 was a £19m detached home in Hampstead North London and the cheapest was a £16000 terraced property in Middlesborough.

As always generalities are often meaningless and as illustrated by the land registry data location is always the key factor. In the last 7 days I have personally  witnessed  an agent receiving offers on a property in Oxford  above the asking price on a large family home  within the catchment area of  one of the City’s most sought after schools  and this  trend is repeated in many locations where there is still a scarcity of property in established residential areas.

There seems to be agreement that the supply of property coming to the market in 2012 will still be scarce but house prices will remain relatively stable if low interest rates can be maintained. Higher interest rates and corresponding higher mortgage repayments would certainly change this situation as more properties are forced to come to the market but with no prospect of this on the horizon, it seems unlikely that the supply will increase. As ever it is all about location.