It's not all doom and gloom in the property market right now
You would be forgiven for thinking that you will not watch the news anymore. It is all sensationalised headlines predicting a financial apocalypse. According to the press, we are indeed headed for tough times, and they are starting to stir up a blind panic. Such as this, in The Times, "UK house prices fall at the sharpest pace in almost two years".
You would be forgiven for thinking that you will not watch the news anymore. Or read the newspapers. Or even social media. It is all sensationalised headlines predicting a financial apocalypse. According to the press, we are indeed headed for tough times, and they are starting to stir up a blind panic.
Such as this, in The Times, "UK house prices fall at the sharpest pace in almost two years".
Headlines like this perpetuate consumer panic, which can exacerbate a reduction in house prices. However, if you actually read the articles, you will see that, yes, house prices have fallen at the sharpest pace for almost two years. This is because house prices haven't actually fallen AT ALL in the last two years; they have risen consistently.
Although house prices have declined recently, with the political unrest and the value of the pound suffering heavily after Liz Truss's mini-budget catastrophe, they are still significantly higher than pre-pandemic.
Property values are only relevant if you are trying to buy, sell or remortgage. Otherwise, you can pretty much ignore them altogether. Property market changes will not affect you unless you are 'in' the property market.
And even then, all property will always have a value. No property has ever been worth zero or negative. And even in the deepest darkest depths of the last recession, people still needed to move house. Properties are still sold, and families still relocate. And the values are relative. If you are buying another property, the value of that property has reduced by the same percentage that yours has, generally speaking (of course, there are anomalies, and there are different values for different locations, but you get the point).
The Halifax index shows that in Jan 2020, the average property price was £240k, which rose to slightly above £290k by April 2022. There has been a slight dip in recent months, but the average house price is still above £290k.
It's not all doom and gloom. The Great British public love the housing market, and property values are one of our favourite conversations after the weather. Because we love this topic so much, newspapers are almost guaranteed a successful story if they have compelling headlines like these.
The world keeps turning, properties will always sell, and people will continue to move.
Read between the lines of the sensational headlines, and you will see the truth.
If you want to discuss the property market with a By Design property expert, get in touch today.
