The Tameside property market is an enigma and chock-full of contradictions. Notwithstanding an economic recession and forecasts of property values dropping, nobody seems to have informed the Tameside homeowners selling their homes and those Tameside people looking to buy them.
As I have discussed in recent postings, the Tameside property market is booming and property values in some sections of the market are rising, yet amidst enthusiastic reports of gazumping, there are disgruntled and malcontent grumbles about mortgage company surveyors down valuing property on surveys.
However, before we talk about the banks and surveyors, let’s look at what is happening in the Tameside property market now.
Land Registry figures published last week showed unyielding evidence for what everyone in the property industry had been saying since the market reopened after a seven-week lockdown on May 13: property prices are rising. However;
The average value of a Tameside home decreased over the first half of 2020 by 0.43 percent.
Looking at the bigger picture, on the other hand, they have at least increased 17.23 percent over the past five years.
Many expect the statistics to revert back to increasing following the Stamp Duty Holiday announced in July, which unbridled a burst of buying activity in the Tameside property market. In many (not all) sectors some properties have been going for over the asking price whilst some have been going to sealed bids.
Some newspapers have even suggested a small minority of homeowners are ‘backdoor-gazumping’, which is generally being referred to by estate agents as ‘retuning the asking price’ – as in, the homeowner removing the property from the market, ‘retuning the asking price’ in an upward direction, then placing it back onto the market.
Conceivably enthused by these stories, some house sellers and estate agents might be getting a little carried away and placing overambitious asking prices on homes they are selling. Customarily a property with too high an asking price wouldn’t sell – yet some over-enthusiastic Tameside buyers are paying over the odds for certain types of properties.
So, let’s look at what is happening to the Tameside property market by house type and the number of bedrooms…
| Number of Tameside properties on the market | ....and of those, how many are sold STC | % Sold STC compared to those for sale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached houses | 363 | 198 | 54.55% |
| Semi-detached houses | 833 | 309 | 37.09% |
| Terraced houses | 919 | 288 | 31.34% |
| Flats & Apartments | 200 | 99 | 49.5% |
| Number of Tameside properties on the market | ....and of those, how many are sold STC | % Sold STC compared to those for sale | |
| Studio / 1 bed | 52 | 31 | 59.62% |
| 2 bed | 778 | 258 | 33.16% |
| 3 bed | 1011 | 347 | 34.32% |
| 4 bed | 394 | 181 | 45.94% |
| 5+ bed | 81 | 47 | 58.02% |
As you can see, the best performing type of property in Tameside is the detached house and the best-selling properties when it comes to bedrooms are five beds or more. A bizarre yet fascinating fact in the current climate, and, particularly when they’re both amongst some of the smallest portions of stock on the market.
These are quite impressive figures for the Tameside property market, yet some of the banks are having none of it.
They are looking apprehensively into 2021 when furlough/the new job support scheme ends, meaning it’s quite tough for all buyers borrowing high percentage mortgages (i.e. more than 80 percent to 85 percent of the value of the property in a mortgage).
It is even tougher for self-employed buyers (whose income is less than assured) to get those high percentage mortgages – and, finally, the banks are most certainly concerned with high percentage mortgage buyers who pay over-inflated prices for a property using the bank’s money; hence the down valuing.
One small note to Tameside landlords – I am also hearing that some overzealous Tameside buy-to-let investors who are over-egging the potential rental figures on their buy-to-let purchase in order to obtain the mortgage, are also being reined in by the banks. It is, therefore, crucial to ensure that your desired rental figure simply isn’t plucked from the air, or to be too overly optimistic (despite the ongoing boom in demand for the rental market). This is something I’d be more than happy to help with, whether you’re a client of mine or not.
Now this is not a huge issue (e.Surv – a nationwide surveying firm only reported a four percent increase in surveyors having to down value property in Q2 2020 compared to Q1), yet should you be lucky enough to have multiple offers on your home, ask the agent what the overall buying position of the buyers are. You need to specifically ask what percentage loan the buyer is taking on and the position of the buyer in the chain (they have to find this out anyway by law and you have a right to know that information as the property seller if you ask).
The bottom line is the highest bidder might not be the best buyer for you. It’s true, average property prices are rising nationally, yet this does not mean you should pay over the odds for your next Tameside property; either as a homeowner or investor.
If you would like a chat about any aspect of the Tameside property market – please do send me a message or pick up the phone; 07709 505 442.
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