With an election coming is it a good time to buy or sell a house in Lancashire?
We are only a few weeks away from the General Election so we thought we’d ask Chris Hodgkinson, property buying expert and managing director of House Buyer Bureau what he thought it could mean for house prices across Lancashire.
Chris says, “Much like the rest of the UK, house price growth across Lancashire has stalled this year, but I don’t see that as a problem. For the housing market to work well houses need to be affordable and the strong growth we’ve seen over the past 20 years was making many houses less and less affordable for house buyers. So I expect prices to stay roughly where they are now across 2024, and I don’t see the election having any real impact on prices, but it might impact activity in the short term.”
Chris speculates that the housing market doesn’t tend to be directly impacted by an election. He believes it is far more sensitive to mortgage rates and the cost of living. So we might see a slight impact if uncertainty around an election delays when the Bank of England makes a rate cut, as this would delay mortgage lenders passing on the benefit through lower mortgage rates.
Chris’ view is that any change in Government would take time to have an effect, and even then they wouldn’t address the most common frustrations that many people have when it comes to selling their house.
“In our experience two of the most common frustrations are the number of sales ‘falling through’ after a sale has been agreed, and the amount of time it takes to complete a sale.
“What might be of concern to anyone in Lancashire is how long it will take to sell their property. Rightmove’s latest report suggests the national average is 32 days to agree a sale, but data from Home.co.uk shows it takes 109 days in Lancashire. And that is just to find a buyer and agree a sale. It will take several more months to actually complete the transaction. That means anyone selling their house in Lancashire could be looking at a 9-12 month process.”
Outlook for the housing market is broadly positive
Whichever party wins the election, the housing market in 2024 is likely to continue in much the same way it has in 2024. Prices might go up or down a little, but overall things will be pretty flat. The number of house sales is likely to be around the 1 million mark – about the same as last year. So if you need to buy or sell a house then the market is pretty stable.
What happens to the market in the years ahead is more difficult to predict, but Chris believes we’re entering a period where prices are unlikely to rise significantly until there are more houses available for sale. It is simple supply and demand. As long as there is more demand for housing than there is supply, then prices will weather most storms that are thrown at them.
If you need to sell your house and can’t afford to wait the many months it takes on the open market, then you could ask House Buyer Bureau what they’d offer you. They buy properties for cash and can buy in any timescale that suits you. They’ve been buying property since 2010 and have helped thousands of people. You can hear directly from some of their customers here.