The price and sales slowdown in London has started to spread further across the south of England, Zoopla has warned.
Analysis by the portal – which defines southern England as the south-east, south-west and east of England – found that more than a third (36%) of homes in this area experienced annual house price falls as of April.
The average house price for the region as a whole stands at £323,910, up 0.6% marginally, but individual towns and cities have seen drops in value of as much as 2.3%.
The analysis, based on Hometrack data, found it was the higher value areas in the London commuter belt that have been hit the worst.
For example, in the south-east region, the weakest annual growth was in the likes of Woking (-2.3%), Epsom (-2.3%), Basingstoke (-1.9%) and Maidenhead (-1.6%).
In contrast, Dover (+3.4%), Hastings (+2.9%) and Shepway (+2.3%) on the coast, all lower value and less commutable areas, performed well.
Zoopla also found sales volumes have declined by 11% and 25% respectively in southern England and London since 2014, but said pricing in the capital was now falling more in line with buyer expectations.
Richard Donnell, research and insight director at Zoopla, said: “London is a large global city whose influence on the demand for housing is not solely limited to the 33 London boroughs.
“The current slowdown in southern England which has extended out from London is a result of weaker housing demand after a period of high price rises.
“Sales volumes are down as buyers respond to multiple tax changes, new mortgage regulations and increased affordability pressures.
“However, we do not expect the extent of price falls to be as pronounced or prolonged as in London as prices overshot by a lesser amount in our view.
“For home owners entering the market the key to securing a sale is to be realistic on pricing based on the profile of demand for homes in the local market.
“Our analysis shows how trends vary within regions and all local markets have their differences.
“Would-be sellers considering selling should speak to a good local agent with their finger on the pulse of the local market to get a true view of demand and the right price to achieve a sale as market conditions look set to remain challenging over the rest of 2019.”
|
Local authorities and regions |
Average house price |
Annual house price increase/decrease |
Annual house price increase / decrease (monetary equivalent) |
|
|
Eastern Region |
£313,556 |
0.4% |
£592 |
|
|
Dacorum District (B) |
£397,535 |
-1.8% |
-£7,117 |
|
|
Hertsmere District (B) |
£481,119 |
-1.7% |
-£8,104 |
|
|
Watford District (B) |
£373,700 |
-1.6% |
-£5,899 |
|
|
Three Rivers District |
£517,818 |
-1.5% |
-£8,086 |
|
|
North Hertfordshire District |
£372,099 |
-1.5% |
-£5,618 |
|
|
Great Yarmouth District (B) |
£162,897 |
2.0% |
£3,257 |
|
|
South Norfolk District |
£268,773 |
2.3% |
£6,138 |
|
|
Waveney District |
£192,452 |
3.0% |
£5,646 |
|
|
City of Peterborough (B) |
£180,391 |
3.0% |
£5,304 |
|
|
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk District (B) |
£219,299 |
3.2% |
£6,762 |
|
|
South East Region |
£362,520 |
0.2% |
-£164 |
|
|
Chiltern District |
£577,684 |
-2.3% |
-£13,729 |
|
|
Woking District (B) |
£435,139 |
-2.3% |
-£10,157 |
|
|
Epsom and Ewell District (B) |
£498,484 |
-2.3% |
-£11,490 |
|
|
Basingstoke and Deane District (B) |
£324,062 |
-1.9% |
-£6,396 |
|
|
Wycombe District |
£415,822 |
-1.6% |
-£6,915 |
|
|
Ashford District (B) |
£301,676 |
2.2% |
£6,626 |
|
|
Rother District |
£319,308 |
2.3% |
£7,113 |
|
|
Shepway District |
£259,617 |
2.3% |
£5,798 |
|
|
Hastings District (B) |
£232,596 |
2.9% |
£6,474 |
|
|
Dover District |
£246,991 |
3.4% |
£8,135 |
|
|
South West Region |
£265,571 |
1.5% |
£3,859 |
|
|
West Devon District (B) |
£260,326 |
-0.4% |
-£935 |
|
|
Swindon (B) |
£211,861 |
0.0% |
-£96 |
|
|
Bath and North East Somerset |
£345,575 |
0.3% |
£1,030 |
|
|
Poole (B) |
£307,667 |
0.3% |
£1,053 |
|
|
Bournemouth (B) |
£259,873 |
0.3% |
£897 |
|
|
Sedgemoor District |
£219,729 |
2.7% |
£5,801 |
|
|
Forest of Dean District |
£232,768 |
2.8% |
£6,291 |
|
|
Christchurch District (B) |
£345,058 |
2.9% |
£9,836 |
|
|
Gloucester District (B) |
£192,019 |
3.2% |
£5,899 |
|
|
Taunton Deane District (B) |
£225,549 |
4.6% |
£9,909 |
The challenge for would be sellers is finding agent’s who aren’t overpitching whilst volumes are down.
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The challenge for agents is to find would-be sellers who aren’t being greedy in a market that is falling.
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Sometimes like trying to educate pork!
We do however have an obligation to try and explain, offering relevant information and data.
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It’s not the sellers fault if the agent hasn’t done their job properly.
Over valuing might win you business but reduce reduce reduce does not gain you any credibility with the public
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The Future Is Tech
“It’s not the sellers fault if the agent hasn’t done their job properly… Over valuing might win you business but reduce reduce reduce does not gain you any credibility with the public”
For the first time, I am 100% in agreement with you.
One particular ‘Agent’ has 9374 current listings on Zoopla – which, by the way, equates to 45.9% of their total listings on the platform – where one or more price reductions has been effected.
One listing that I found has an extremely… interesting… history. Listed nearly 2 years ago at £400000 it has been up and down like a g-string on Love Island – incredibly it was INCREASED by £25k after nine months before being reduced by the same amount six months later; then INCREASED again by £10k less than a month later, and reduced once again by the same amount (plus a fiver for luck) on Boxing Day last year.
And there’s more. Many, MANY more. Some even more ridiculous that the above example.
So – you’re absolutely on the money, TFIT.
What degree of credibility can any Agent that facilitates this type of blatant *********** (credit: Jonnie) possibly expect to have with anyone?
I’m delighted that you’ve finally realised reality.
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“up and down like a g-string on Love Island”….comedy gold! 🙂
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Thank you, ‘The Hero’.
I try.
Sometimes I’m like a budgie with a broken beak…
…and I succeed.
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That one not so much 😉
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Maybe I’m reading this wrong but it seems to imply that in the South East Region there is a house price percentage growth of 0.2% but as a monetary value a decrease? I feel like a minus sign may be missing from the percentage growth figure?!
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