What really happened in the local housing market in May?

How many houses sold in LA1 in May?

In May 2018, 88 properties sold ( SSTC ) in LA1.  This bucked the national average which reports a decrease year on year.   LA1 was up in sales by 8.7% year on year.   The previous month 87 properties sold ( SSTC ) which shows a consistent market.

The breakdown is a follows

Up to £125,000           33 properties sold

£125,001 - £250,000  38 properties sold

£250,001 - £500,000   17 properties sold

Above £500,000          0 sold

The property market shift

The biggest shift in the property market in recent times is the activity levels at the lower end of the market.  The smaller terraces are taking longer to sell - the average currently across Lancaster is 24 weeks ( at JDG it is currently 19 weeks ).   Interesting homes priced in the £200,000 region are taking an average of just 18 weeks ( at JDG it is currently just 4 weeks ).   Could the lower end shift be blamed on the changes in the buy to let market?  All the signs are showing it could be.  Also, many first time buyers have taken advantage of Help to Buy schemes offered by the new build developments.   

In order to get sold at this lower end,  house sellers need to focus on their presentation and pricing strategy.  Competition at this end is tough.

What type of property sold?

It is always interesting to see what type of property sold.  As we can see below terrace homes are still by far the most popular selling type in LA1, however, given the fact that we are predominately a terraced city, this figure is not surprising.   Over half of the apartments sold in Lancaster were located in the city centre ( LA1 1 ) whilst 41% of the semi-detached homes to sell were in LA1 2.  Is the recently opened by-pass starting to have an impact for north Lancaster?   With two recent asking price offers on homes in Scale Hall sold by our company (both houses were above £175,000) the signs are very positive indeed.

Sales by houses type

Detached                    9

Semi - detached        24

Terrace                       38

Flats / Apartments    13

Bungalows                 3

Sales by area

The most popular selling region of Lancaster was LA1 4 which covers the area of Scotforth, Bowerham and Greaves. This is not suprising, given the key employers and highly regarded schools in this area of the city. 

LA1 1  11 Properties  ( 7 were apartments )

LA1 2   18 Properties  ( 10 were semi detached homes )

LA1 3   18 Properties  ( 12 were terrace homes )

LA1 4   26 Properties  ( 9 were semi detached homes )

LA1 5  16 properties  ( 6 were terrace homes )

19 different estate agents were involved with the 88 property sales across LA1.   At JDG we agreed 21 of these sales ( 23.6% ).  Online estate agents only accounted for 2 sales ( 2.2% of the market ).   

If you would like to keep up to date with the local property market, check out or website www.jdg.co.uk