After a somewhat tumultuous 2023, house prices are on the rise again, and estate agents in Leicester are at hand to help buyers and sellers get the most out of their properties.
Rightmove’s monthly House Price Index noted that the average asking price for property coming to market is £570 under the highest average of all time, recorded nearly a year ago.
However, whilst May 2023 was the end of what had been a huge three-year period for the property market, the reasons for the price rises this time are a little different, which people looking at houses at the top of the property ladder have perhaps already noticed.
The largest growth areas have been in the largest homes, often with four or more bedrooms, which have seen the highest first-quarter price growth for a decade.
This is in contrast to first-time buyers and second-steppers, which whilst both rising have done so at a noticeably lower rate than the upper echelons of the market, meaning that your experience of the market will depend on what type of home you are looking to buy or sell.
The reason for this comes down to financing; houses that are popular with first-time buyers are particularly sensitive to the availability and affordability of mortgages, and with mortgage rates seeing particularly potent volatility over the last few months, lenders are being somewhat more cautious.
By contrast, larger homes tend to be less sensitive to higher mortgage rates, because people looking to buy in the sector tend to have more equity available to them, allowing them to either trade upwards or sideways in the sector.
Conversely, buyers who were expecting either lower mortgage rates or prices to drop are left waiting as both have had a consequential effect on affordability.
As well as this, greater availability of top-of-the-ladder properties has contributed to increased sales after months of people staying put in bigger houses.
