ARK’s Market Synopsis

By Chris Seeley · 6 June 2022

Welcome to the latest edition of ARK’s market synopsis with reporting mainly covering market outcomes for April.

One continuing theme to reflect upon is the continued “drive to the countryside”. Hometrack report “although a less affordable market the appeal of rural and coastal living has boosted buyer demand since the pandemic, and therefore driven up price growth”.

But cities are also standing up well, especially cities north of Watford Gap, with Hometrack reporting that “Liverpool registered the strongest annual price growth (10.1%) followed by Nottingham (+9.8%) and Manchester (+9.5%)”.

One cannot help but think there must be a slowdown somewhere but the reports of a shortage of homes in the market continues to drive house price growth and we continue to experience this in our own work.

Most commentators are reporting a likely slow down in price growth toward the end of the year but there is little sense that prices might fall, which continues to be bad news for First Time Buyers.

Hometrack set the FTB challenge in context saying “The First-Time Buyer (FTB) home is averaging around £225,000 – up from £197,600 when the pandemic started. This means the average first-time buyer must find an additional £4,000 for a 15% deposit, and an additional £5,000 in added income every year to meet the criteria of a home loan which is within the 4.5 x income threshold.”

Having seen a couple of presentations recently with bright sunshine against house price growth we really should not be too bullish, we saw all that in 2006!

To read report highlights and download the full report, click below.