The Lancaster Property Market Update - April 2023

Activity at the lower end of the market is still very strong.  To give you an example, 2-bed terrace homes are still getting snapped up.  We have just sold homes in both Bowerham and Moorlands, and both achieved their full asking prices.   

The big difference estate agents are now seeing is that because buyers have a choice, they are taking the time.   In April 2021,  the average UK home was sold (SSTC) in just 13 days.  In April 2022,  it was taking just 31 days.   The average now is 55 days.   

Now before anyone thinks that the market is stalling, it isn’t.  It is just returning to a more normal market,  the type of market we had in the pre-pandemic days.     

Here are your figures for April 2023

Property Prices

The average price of a home in Lancaster (LA1) now stands at £180,208  This is a small increase of £588 from last month which shows that property prices are stable in Lancaster, despite what the media says.    

Average UK property prices and annual price growth are published by various organisations. However, the figures are different for each and can cause confusion. This is because the data is calculated in slightly different ways.  Rightmove average prices are the highest, but their index is based on the asking prices of newly listed properties, not on sales prices.  In comparison, the ONS UK HPI index uses final sales prices, including for cash and mortgage sales, recorded by the Land Registry.   This is what we look at.

The big thing to note this year is that because buyers have a choice,  house sellers still need to remember that sensible pricing is key if they want to get moved.   Buyers are no longer prepared to pay over the odds in order to “get” a home.  

For those interested in the premium market,  there were only two house sales above £500,000 in Lancaster this month.   So far this year, there have only been 4 sales above £500,000 and 2 of those were on Haverbreaks.  

Buyer demand

Ever since Liz Truss and her now infamous budget,  buyer demand for homes has waned due to economic uncertainty and the rise in interest rates.    It’s clear to see in the data.  The number of people looking at websites such as Rightmove is a key indicator of this.  

Sellers and Estate Agents though shouldn’t be relying on potential buyers seeing their homes purely on Rightmove.  An estate agent's own database is gold.    Our own team have already registered 821 new buyers on our client-looking list already this year.   We just need more homes to suit them, especially ones which are priced under £250,000. 

Struggling Properties

As we head into May there are 317 homes available for sale in the Lancaster market - this is a decrease of  7% from last month.  However, on May 1st last year, there were just 171 homes.   You can see how the market has changed!

It is still a concern though that 50% of these (159)  have been for sale for 12 weeks or longer.   For reference the average time it is taking to find a buyer is now 55 days across the UK - this is 4 days faster than last month but still 24 days longer than it took last year!   In April,  51 homes also reduced in price,  over double the amount of properties that were reduced last year. 

15 different estate agents we involved with the 85 property sales in March.  At JDG, we had another great month.  As you can see on the Rightmove chart below,   once again 25% of all sales across Lancaster are with our company.    It is also interesting to see that over 50% of all the property sales are with just 3 different estate agencies.   

We have the buyers registered and with our carefully crafted launch strategy, our expert social media skills and our 360 tours, we are still achieving excellent results for our clients.  

If we can help you move,  please call us on 01524 843322 or email me at michelle@jdg.co.uk

Thanks for reading

Michelle 

Ps.  If you are thinking of selling, this is quite important.   For the 2nd year in a row,  we have been ranked as the No.1 Estate Agent in the UK The Property Academy.   You do not pay to enter, every single estate agent in the UK is automatically entered.  There are 15,000 different companies entered.  

This is the highest award any estate agent in the UK can win.  It is judged on 3 key elements - marketing, service and results.  The results are the important part for you.  On average we achieve 2% more for our clients than other agents in our area.   

PPS.  The graph below shows the sales results for all agents in Lancaster, year to date.   As you can see,  homes are selling with JDG!