December 2010
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire Property market comment
Is the property lending market thawing despite this cold weather? It certainly seems so if the latest mortgage approval figures are anything to go by. The number of mortgage approvals rose in November to 48,846 compared to 47,185 in October showing the first increase in month on month approvals since April. There certainly appears to be a good amount of pent up demand, as mortgages for residential property become more readily available, people are snapping up the offers and looking to buy as soon as possible. We are certainly not out of the woods yet as lenders are continuing to be cautious partly due to being sensitive about property prices and no doubt thinking about the £300bn loan from the government. This caution is backed up by the average LTV being 57.7% in November 2010 however this is well up on the 53% at the same time last year which is a positive sign.
Within our region of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, stock levels continue to be dire as would be sellers are remaining cautious about going on the ‘open market’, as a result we are now seeing more ‘privately available’ properties than at any other time of 2010. The properties which are best in their class are still selling well and often off market while the average properties continue to need to go to market at realistic prices to achieve any hope of selling. We remain optimistic about 2011 and feel that Q1 will offer good opportunities to purchase those quality homes.
