February 2010 Southend property market up date.

Sales market

Two significant factors have had a positive influence on the housing market during January. The first, being the amount of new property coming onto the market for sale giving far greater choice to purchasers and investors. Secondly the number of mortgage products being made available which passed the 2,500 barrier for the first time since May 2009.
The New Year market got off to a patchy start with a certain amount of uncertainty but unusually as the snow fell the activity increased with several sales being negotiated at Tudor during the big freeze. As the snow melted the activity cooled as well until the last 10 days of January when someone turned on the lights to sellers. Since then anyone travelling around Southend will have noticed the increase in “for sale” boards as significantly more property comes onto the market. This has lead to far higher levels of sales being negotiated. House prices remain broadly the same during the month with average detached house selling for £311,839, semi detached £195,313, and terraced for £146,092. ( Land registry data)

The new homes market has recovered well over the past six months according to new data just revealed. The average price of a new home rose by 1.1 per cent in December last year, compared with the previous month. This is the seventh consecutive month that properties in the sector have increased their value, which the company described as "a remarkable recovery" since its low point in May 2009. (SmartNewHomes.com New homes index )


The rental market

Remains buoyant with good levels of activity with a healthy supply of well referenced tenants looking to rent at the moment.
This is a significant part of the Southend property market as the private rental housing stock accounts for a far higher proportion than the UK average.
Figures show that 43% of homes were owned by their residents in 1961 compared with 68% in 2008.
Privately rented homes fell from 33% to currently 14% this has increased slightly recently probably due to the market conditions and higher student numbers. Plus the growing trend of renting your first home for a few years before committing to buy.

The total number of properties in Southend borough is approximately 76,000 out of these the council and social landlords housing stock accounts for 8,500 and privately owned housing is nearly 67,000 of which approximately 11,000 are rented out.( 16.5% ) ( National office of statistics data )


Mortgages

As I mentioned earlier the supply of mortgages continues to increase. Products with loan to value’s of 75, 80 and 85 per cent are now available.
Santander has unveiled two new mortgage deals, offering borrowers loans of up to 70 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) on some of its fixed-rate and tracker deals.
House buyers could now take advantage of a two-year fixed-rate product at 3.44 per cent or a two-year tracker mortgage with an initial rate of 2.49 per cent.
The financial institution also announced that it is cutting the rate on its five-year fixed-rate deal to 5.44 per cent with an LTV of up to 75 per cent, making it a market leading rate in this category. This is just one example of the type of offering available according to Kit Thompson Tudor’s in house independent financial advisor. But he explains these offers are not around for long so anyone needing finance needs to act quickly and use an expert who can keep them up to date with the mortgage market.

Alan Kirkman FNAEA
Director
Tudor Estates
8th February 2010

For further information on the property market go to www.trustintudor.co.uk