32% more Gravesend homes for sale than a year ago
The amount of houses available to buy is starting to revert to long-term averages, which is great news for Gravesend homebuyers and Gravesend landlords since properties are no longer jumping off the shelf as they did last year. This implies that buyers in Gravesend have more options, which will ease pressure on Gravesend home prices and bring back a more typical Gravesend housing market for purchasers (and sellers). There are currently 25 homes for sale in the average UK estate agency, the most since December 2021 (when it was 21 homes for sale).
However, when we look at the actual Gravesend figures, they paint a slightly different picture and are a better indicator of the status of the real estate market than properties per estate agency brand:
- Gravesend Detached Homes: Dec 2021, 34 available and today, 39 available – an increase of 15%
- Gravesend Semi-Detached Homes: Dec 2021, 49 available and today, 81 available – an increase of 65%
- Gravesend Terraced/Town Houses: Dec 2021, 39 available and today, 74 available – an increase of 90%
- Gravesend Apartments: Dec 2021, 107 available and today, 118 available – an increase of 10%
- Overall, a year-on-year increase of 32%
Please note: The data for Gravesend is calculated by looking at all properties and plots for sale within a 2-mile radius of the centre of Gravesend.
In all regions of the UK, there has been an increase in the number of available houses. This is crucial because a greater supply of available homes for sale lessens the pressure on home prices as they rise.
So how does a lack of available properties make such a significant difference?
Early in the spring of 2022, there weren't many properties available for purchase (as seen from the low December 2021 stats above). Buyers frequently had to pay more than the asking price to get their Gravesend home because they faced a "Hobson's choice" situation. Property in Gravesend whose sale was agreed upon in the early spring of 2022 (and which was finalised in September 2022) had a value that was 7.9% greater than property in Gravesend whose sale was agreed upon in the spring of 2021. As more homes become available for sale through estate agents, purchasers will have more options, which will lead to a more balanced housing market in Gravesend.
However, given the current impact to Gravesend homebuyers' purchasing power brought on by rising interest rates, it is crucial that Gravesend vendors market their properties in line with the amount that Gravesend homebuyers are willing to spend. Although a crash in Gravesend home prices is not anticipated in 2023, it is very clear that they will be lower than in 2022.
Naturally, it makes no difference what happens to property prices if you are buying and selling in the same real estate market. Some people may believe that waiting for Gravesend home prices to decline will allow them to get a deal, but if you are reliant on a mortgage, the additional mortgage payments will cost much more than the purchase price savings if interest rates continue to rise.
The amount of homes available for sale at any one time in relation to the number of purchasers have an impact on the value of your Gravesend house. Prices drop when there is an excess of homes for sale, and as demand declines, so do housing prices. So how does the current inventory of homes for sale compare to other periods?
If you remember, I said at the beginning of the piece that the typical UK estate agency now has 25 properties on its books. The average number of available properties in 2018/9 was 36 (and for added comparison, the long-term average, since records began in 2016, is 49 homes for sale). As you can see, despite rising stock levels, we are still well behind the long-term norm. Measuring that stock level is an excellent technique to predict what will happen to the real estate market (i.e., the number of properties for sale).
Gravesend homes for sale right now:
There are currently 323 homes and plots for sale in Gravesend, specifically. Although there are 780 homes and plots for sale on average during the past 16 years, there were once 1,345 homes and plots for sale during the 2008 credit crunch. The Gravesend real estate market is likely to continue to experience some level of shortage, which means that while the spring of 2022's home price gains won't be repeated in 2023, they also won't be drastically reversed.
It has changed in the previous six months and will continue to change through 2023 why people move back home. In 2023, older homeowners in their 60s and 70s will downsize more frequently to save money on heating costs, while younger families will continue to search for new homes to reside in due to a need for more room.
Younger 20-somethings will continue to purchase if they have access to the "Bank of Mum and Dad" for down payments on homes. This is particularly true because renting is relatively expensive compared to buying due to double-digit rental increases (even with the increased interest rates).
This is my take on the Gravesend property market for this week, but I always appreciate hearing your opinions, so feel free to comment or email me at maxine@amaxestates.com with your ideas on the subject or any other housing-related issue you'd like guidance on.
MAXINE
