Stamp Duty Deadline Leads To Rush of Ealing House Sales |
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Unusually high proportion of million pound plus homes change hands There has been a rush to complete transactions for family homes in Ealing in the run up to deadline for the Stamp Duty exemption. The way the tax holiday worked gave a greater incentive to complete sales before the end of June particularly for more expensive properties which resulted in a large number of houses priced above a million pounds changing hands in a short period. Across the W5 and W13 postcode areas 20 houses were sold for over seven figures in the three months leading up to the deadline according to the Land Registry. Unusually there were more reports of sales of semi-detached and detached houses than terraced properties. On the sales reported so far this has led to the average price in the W5 postcode area rising by 19.1% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the previous three months but home values still remain down over the year. A similar trend was seen in West Ealing (postcode area W13) where the average price rose by 9.1% The highest price paid for a home in W5 was for a seven bedroom, four bathroom detached house on Grange Road near Ealing Common. The top price paid for a house in West Ealing between April and June was £2.2 million for a detached property in Culmington Road. Donald Collins of Go View London, said, “We are definitely sensing that there is a return to normality with more and more people returning to the office. Buyers typically who have entered our market in Ealing and Acton in recent years have been looking for spacious homes, near to parks and great schools and commutable from Central London - we have all the ingredients in the area to reflect London’s bounce back. “We see that many offices are now re-opening in the City and requesting staff return at least 3 days a week in a lot of cases. We have seen a step up in both sales and lettings new registrations this month already compared to previous months to reflect this. “If you are thinking about putting your property on the market, we have also launched a new buyer’s relocation service that is proving very popular as we literally become the personal assistant and adviser for anyone thinking of moving. We ensure we get all the best properties for you to view and tie the onward move in with the sale of your own property – ensuring the experience is fulfilling and as stress free as possible for you. “If anyone is thinking of moving please feel free to email me directly dcollins@goviewlondon.co.uk and we can get everything in motion for you.”
Source: Land Registry
The average price of a property in the UK was £265,668 at the end of June according to the Land Registry a rise of 13.2% over the year and 4.5% over the month. London’s rise was well below this level with prices in the capital up by just 6.3% over the year. The North West by comparison saw a rise of 18.6% Between May and June 2021, UK transactions increased by 74.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis as volumes recovered from lows seen during the lockdown. The Nationwide’s House Price Index suggests that the market paused for breath in July with prices falling by 0.5% compared with the previous month. Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said, “Annual house price growth slowed to 10.5% in July, from the 17-year high of 13.4% recorded the previous month. In month-on-month terms, house prices fell by 0.5%, after taking account of seasonal effects, following a 0.7% rise in June. “The modest fallback in July was unsurprising given the significant gains recorded in recent months. Indeed, house prices increased by an average of 1.6% a month over the April to June period – more than six times the average monthly gain recorded in the five years before the pandemic. “The tapering of stamp duty relief in England is also likely to have taken some of the heat out of the market. The nil rate band threshold decreased from £500,000 to £250,000 at the end of June (it will revert to £125,000 at the end of September). This provided a strong incentive to complete house purchases before the end of June, especially for higher priced properties. For those purchasing a property above £250,000, the maximum stamp duty saving reduced from £15,000 to £2,500 after the end of June. “The stamp duty changes drove the number of housing market transactions to a record high of almost 200,000 in June as home buyers rushed to beat the deadline. This was around twice the number of transactions recorded in a typical month before the pandemic and 8% above the previous peak seen in March. “For example, the number of transactions involving properties bought for £500,000 or higher increased by 37% over the 12 months to March 2021, compared to a rise of 2% for all properties. As a result, between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021 the share of transactions involving a property valued at £500,000 or above has increased from 12% to 18%. “There has also been a shift in the composition of property types that have been transacting. Over the past six months the proportion of sales involving detached and semi-detached properties has increased, while the proportion involving flats has declined significantly.”
September 28, 2021 |