Basingstoke Property Market since the intrest rate rise other news

Interest Rates

At the end of October, the Bank of England increased interest rates by 0.25% to 0.5% for the first time since July 2007.
Many of today's property owners will not have experienced a rate increase during their history of property ownership, but I, like many others, remember my mortgage rate reaching 17% in 1989!
So, what does this increase mean for Basingstoke's mortgage holders?
Despite some alarmist headlines in the press, the impact for most mortgage holders is modest.
Today, the average outstanding mortgage balance is £89,000, so the increase in interest on this amount for the average mortgage holder is around £10-£12 per month.
If you extrapolate using a mortgage calculator to the average purchase price of around £300,000, the increase would be around £35 per month in interest on an outstanding balance of £300,000.
So, on the face of it, manageable for most people. The big question is, is this just an adjustment, or the start of a period of rate increases?
According to Mark Carney at the Bank of England, he envisages two more increases over the next three years.
If these are of a similar level, i.e. 0.25% on each occasion, then the average mortgage holder should plan for an increase of around £30-36 per month over the next three years, assuming of course, there are no major economic surprises!

Rental Sector Consultation - Smoke and Co2

The government also announced this week a consultation on the effectiveness of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in rental properties.
Although the government says this does not indicate any intention to change the regulations, it does follow closely after the Grenfell tragedy and may well take some influence from that enquiry.
In the meantime, it is our opinion, that in addition to a smoke detector on each floor, all rental properties should also have a carbon monoxide detector, not only for solid fuel appliances, but all for all gas appliances in a rental property.
The consultation closes on 9th January 2018, and you can find out more here
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/review-of-the-smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm-regulations-2015


House prices
The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) survey concluded that "House price falls are now widespread"
In particular it cited London, the South East, East Anglia and the north-east of England. By contract it also noted that Scotland, Wales, the north-west of England and Northern Ireland have continued to see prices rising.
This was in contrast to the Halifax property index from October which suggested an average increase over the last 12 months of 4.5%.
The outlook from RICS was gloomy, blaming the interest rate increase and lack of fresh housing stock coming to the market for sale.
Our view is that whilst this may seem contradictory, RICS are looking at this from the perspective of asking price versus the price actually achieved.
There is no doubt that properties continue to go on the market looking for premium pricing, but with the lack of housing stock available, buyers can not only be very selective, but can also demand a better price if they are in a good position to complete.
The Halifax is a better indicator of price changes over the year as is the office for national statistics. Both of these have continued to show year on year growth, albeit at a slightly declining rate.
As we come into the holiday season, we will get much better indicators for the health of the housing market in the new year.

How much of the Basingstoke area is now built on?
Lastly, there was an interesting tool released on the BBC website yesterday, that helps you to see how much of your local area has been built on.
I have included the map for Basingstoke below, but it you want to take a closer look, click here to play with the tool for yourself.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41901294