Harlow Property Market – Q4 Update

Well, hasn’t 2016 been eventful. The ups and downs of Brexit, the Queen’s 90^th, Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, Trump, Bake Off to Channel 4 and something close to the hearts of every buy to let landlord and homeowner in Harlow ... the Harlow property market.

So, let’s look at the headlines for the Harlow property market...

In the last month, Harlow property values rose by 0.97%, leaving them, year on year 16.9% higher, whilst interestingly, Harlow asking prices are down 2.0% month on month. All three statistics go to show the Harlow property market has recovered well after the summer lull, which was worsened by the uncertainty surrounding the EU vote back in June. Irrespective of all the issues, the average value of a Harlow home now stands at £318,500.

Generally, Harlow asking prices continue to hold up well, as asking prices are 5.8% higher year on year. At this time of year, asking prices tend to drop on the run up to Christmas and locally, they have dropped by 2.0% this month (November 2016), although this still compares well with last year’s drop in Harlow asking prices, as we saw asking prices drop by 0.3% in November 2015.

Now it’s true to say, after chatting with fellow property professionals in Harlow, all of us have seen the number of property sales fall slightly, suggesting a slowing market, but it is very early days and it could be the time of year. Also, the numbers are limited, so it’s interesting to take note from a recent survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, stating new buyer enquiries and new instructions are falling at the same rate, suggesting that there will not be a downward pressure on property values.

Looking at the figures for the UK (as we can’t just look at Harlow in isolation), property values are generally rising slower than a few years ago, but on a positive note, there's still growth across the UK. You see, slowing property value growth isn't solely Brexit related, but after a number years of double digit rises in property values, affordability has weakened and cooling price growth is widely seen to be a natural correction of the market.

On the other hand, interest rates being at a record low of 0.25% are helping the property market. The cut in interest rates in the late summer was the medicine for the post-Brexit worry and will, as a consequence, ensure that the UK economy continues to be underpinned by buoyant property prices.

 So, what will happen in 2017 in the Harlow property market?

Some say until we know what type of exit the UK will make from the EU it is hard to evaluate the outcome. Although, I believe, the whole Brexit issue is a sideshow to the main issue in the UK (and Harlow) housing market as a whole. As I have mentioned time and time again over the last few months, the biggest issue is demand outstripping supply when it comes to the number of households required to house us all. Harlow has an ever-growing population: with immigration (we still have at least two years of free movement from EU members into the UK), people living longer and the fact we need thousands of additional households as the country has nearly 115,000 divorces a year (where one household becomes two households).  These are interesting times ahead! 

Harlow Semi Detached House Prices rise by 337% in 20 years

The semi-detached house with its bay windows and net curtains has long been ridiculed as an emblem of safe, lacklustre and desperately uncool suburban life; the homes of the likes of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping up Appearances and more latterly Alan Partridge – but they could have the last laugh ..

The semi can now laugh in the face of its posher detached counterpart, which saw a rise of only 242% in the same 20-year period. Looking at smaller properties, flats/apartments rose 397%, whilst terraced houses rose 372% (although they were starting from a lower base and demand from buy to let landlords has had a big part in driving the values on that type of house (i.e. the price a buy to let landlord is prepared to pay is driven by the rent the landlord can achieve).

In 1996 the average value of a Harlow semi stood at £87,100, today it stands at £381,200

Such is the attractiveness of semis, which are cheaper than detached houses but have most of the same benefits for families. Semi-detached houses were built in their hundreds of thousands by the Victorians and Edwardians between the wars and through to the present day. Interestingly in the late 19^th Century and early 20^th century – they often weren’t referred to as semi-detached – but as villas!

So whilst Europeans live on top of each other in apartments us British chose, in the late Victorian and early Edwardian times, suburban comfort, being near … but not too near, the neighbours! I once heard someone say the semi-detached house was a peculiar crossbreed that doesn’t stand on its own — it is inseparable from its neighbour — yet somehow still embodies a dream of suburban independence.

Nearly one in five houses in Harlow is a semi-detached house

 There are 5,243 semi-detached properties in Harlow and they represent 15.13% of all the households in Harlow. Harlow has such a mix of semi-detached properties with the semis to more modern ones built in the last couple of decades. Especially with the older ones, the semi offered a hall to provided separation between the reception rooms and privacy for their occupants. Also the downstairs offered larger rooms to accommodate dining tables, whilst upstairs, bedrooms were smaller, yet cosy.

However, probably the most overlooked aspect of popularity for semis is the garden. The front garden, designed to separate the house from the world, and the back garden designed for private relaxation. The semi in the suburbs was relaxing, well presented, plumbed and enhanced by a garden so that when a window was opened the air had a chance of being genuinely fresh… and it’s for all those reasons why 104 semi-detached houses have been sold in Harlow in the last 12 months.  Still as popular today as they were with the Victorians all those years ago – some things just stand the test of time!

For more thoughts on the Harlow Property Market – please visit the Harlow Property Market Blog at http://harlowproperty.blogspot.co.uk/