Antony Roberts’ experts are often asked for their opinions on various aspects of the housing and rental markets. Below, is a selection of our comments which appeared in the press in October.
House prices rose by 0.5 per cent in September, according to Nationwide Building Society. Amy Reynolds, head of sales at Antony Roberts, told The Guardian: “With the summer market now out of the way, which was surprisingly resilient given continued caution demonstrated by buyers, many are now waiting for what the budget might bring.”
With some properties taking longer than vendors would like to sell, what can you do if your home has been on the market for a period of time but nobody is biting – could it be overpriced? Amy Reynolds told The Telegraph: “There are certain properties that simply need time – we know they’d sell easily in a stronger market and for more than today’s asking price, but they won’t sell today. Those are the hardest to explain to sellers.”
Rachel Reeves’ rumoured plans for a mansion tax on homes valued at more than £2 million in the budget are contributing to uncertainty in the housing market. Amy Reynolds told The Daily Mail: “In areas such as East Sheen and Richmond, £2m doesn’t necessarily buy a mansion – it buys an ordinary family home. A so-called ‘mansion tax’ would unfairly penalise people who are property-rich but cash-poor. Many long-term owners here have simply benefited from rising property values over decades, not from high incomes. An annual charge based on property value rather than income would hit retired homeowners and families already stretched by high living costs, and could even force some to sell their homes just to pay the bill. It feels like a blunt instrument that risks destabilising the local market rather than generating fair revenue.”
Indeed, Zoopla’s latest house price index found that the usual Christmas slowdown has begun early as some buyers adopt a ‘wait and see’ strategy ahead of the budget. Amy Reynolds told City AM that any bounce would likely come in the New Year: “Nothing will happen in November, and then we are so close to Christmas it’s hard to see how a post-budget bounce will have an impact this year.”
The authoritative but more dated Office for National Statistics house price index showed that prices grew by 3 per cent in the year to August, a slight dip from July’s 3.2 per cent. Amy Reynolds told Forbes: “House-price growth is showing signs of flattening, which may reinforce the current market caution leading to more sellers adjusting their expectations as to what they can achieve for their homes. Affordability remains the brake on the housing market. The high cost of buying a new home is prohibiting many from making the moves they want to make, and this is leading to some stagnation in the market in certain areas.”
