In recent months, UK housing surveys have shown that the average house price has been plunging, with the large increases in price seen in the first half of 2022 being partly reversed as the wider economic situation and rising interest rates have taken their toll.
Forecasters had suggested various scenarios for 2023, but these only varied in the extent to which prices were going to drop. Nobody suggested that it might soon peter out.
For this reason, anyone looking to buy now might have raised an eyebrow at the latest house price surveys, which appear to be telling different stories, one that you may wish to explore with a mortgage broker in Liverpool.
On the one hand, Nationwide reported that house prices had fallen by 0.6 per cent in January, double December’s fall, suggesting the decline is clearly continuing. By contrast, Halifax has revealed that prices barely fell at all.
While the Bank of England has raised the base rate again this month to four per cent, the fact that inflation is falling and the UK economy has (just) avoided going into recession may suggest the economic picture is at least a little better than previously predicted.
Buyers may consider that now is a good time to buy, as base rates may not have far to rise, prices will not get much cheaper and job security for buyers will be greater if the UK economy outperforms its gloomy expectations.
Halifax noted that the north of England was, along with Scotland, the most affordable region, although overall affordability has declined in the past year.
That could mean there are good prospects in Liverpool and the wider Merseyside area, although this is certainly worth exploring with an advisor.
For example, the Liverpool Echo has recently highlighted Birkenhead as a place where prices have soared by 38.6 per cent in the last three years, with observers comparing it with the Baltic Triangle in Liverpool as an ‘up and coming’ fashionable place to live.
This shows it is wise to look at more than just the national picture.