Assetz® News - Easter boom for property purchases

Easter boom for property purchases

12th April 2006 |

The property market in the UK is continuing to strengthen, according to most experts, and it will receive another welcome boost this Easter as buyers take the opportunity to step up house buying activity.

Because confidence was severely dented in 2005 when some pundits were speculating about the possibility of a crash, it has inevitably taken a while for the market to return to form.

The cut to interest rates in August was clearly instrumental in instigating this transformation and analysts have since been observing a steady improvement as house prices have climbed across the UK.

Property investment has again been attracting huge amounts of attention, while A-Day added extra impetus with the hugely popular changes to self-invested personal pensions (Sipps).

While Nationwide's Quarterly Regional Review recently reported on the fastest quarterly house price increase since the middle of 2004, there have still been some doubts as to whether the growth will continue, but haart estate agents is expecting substantial interest in the coming days and weeks that suggests the market is ready to kick on again.

Part of the Spicerhaart group, the largest independent network of agents in the UK, haart has reported a 32 per cent increase in appointments booked over the Easter break compared to last year.

"We are expecting an incredibly busy weekend this Easter," said Paul Smith, chief executive of haart.

"On top of the highest level of property viewings booked for a weekend so far this year, we are expecting many more potential buyers through the door as the weekend progresses."

Aside from this, however, haart has already observed an extremely impressive start to the year, with sales transactions up by 52 per cent from the same period last year. It is clearly good news for investors looking to sell on properties for a profit, with demand again high and confidence continuing to rise.

"The housing market is very buoyant at the moment, as confidence has returned, under the backdrop of continued household growth and a stable interest rate outlook," added Mr Smith.

"Transaction levels are well above the level last year and we expect this level of activity to continue well into the summer months. We believe that in many areas in the UK, house prices will increase by up to seven per cent in the first half of the year."

One key observation from haart is that buyers remain price sensitive and that they are rarely prepared to pay over the odds, which is seemingly a hangover from the confidence slump last year.

New research has suggested that investors in the leafy suburbs may still attract top prices, however, with the number of trees in a street reportedly corresponding to the value of the houses.

As reported by the icSurreyOnline website, Epsom and Ewell Council is keen to add to the 6,000 trees in the borough for this very reason and is planning to plant 225 a year.

For those with properties in areas where trees are perhaps a little scarcer, the current health of the market should provide encouragement enough and if the Easter period is as busy as haart is expecting, prices are likely to rise again this month.