Wellingborough Property Market Update – May 2023

A third of 2023 has now passed, so I’ve taken a look at the latest data available from ZooplaPro to see if we can spot any trends in the Wellingborough property market.

The number of properties for sale remained about the same in April (682) compared to March (688) and still higher than any other previous month since I started recording the data in January 2021.

Not only have the number of properties that have been for sale remained broadly the same, asking prices have only increased by £345 (0.12%) from £277,308 vs £277,653.

However, the asking prices of newly listed properties coming to the market have fallen by £7,231 (2.55%) to £276,387.

There are fewer number of properties that have had a price reduction too. For the first three months of the year there were 64 reductions in January (10.1% of the market), 63 in February (9.8%), 61 in March (8.9%) and down to 50 (7.3) in April.

For the whole of 2021, just 2.5% of properties had a price reduction.

In the first half of 2022, this was 3.3%

In the second half of 2022, this was 6.4%

Whilst this is largely positive news that it looks like the market is beginning to level out, there appears some way to go (possibly beyond the end of 2023).

There are other signs of the market still adjusting itself when we look at the average asking price of sold properties compared to newly listed.

Even though asking prices of new properties coming to the market have fallen by £7,231 (2.55%), the gap between that and asking prices of sold properties still stands at £24,271 (9.63%), which is an increase from £21,548 (8.4%) last month.

I believe this gap still needs to reduce by either increasing buying power or asking prices falling for a stable market to emerge.

In all likelihood, I think that mortgage rates are going to be about as low as they will be for a while, which means asking prices will need to come down a little further – around 5-10% – so that there will be enough buyers (not just those lucky enough to be able to get a great rate) who are able to fulfil the supply of homes.

If asking prices were to drop by 10%, this would put them at £249,888, or around the same price they were in November 2021 (£251,019).

The Rental Market

The average asking price for a property to rent in Wellingborough now stands at £870. That is £119 (15.8%) higher than 12 months ago and £167 (23.8%) higher than January 2021.

Mortgage rates are increasing, regulation on rented properties is increasing and the recent changes in capital gains tax and the scrapping of tax relief on buy-to-let mortgages are all driving some landlords to sell up and leave the rental market entirely, which will ultimately affect supply negatively.

According to research conducted by Simply Business, 61% of landlords sold a property in 2022 or are planning on selling a rental property in the near future with only 23% of landlords saying that they intended to purchase an investment property to rent out.

This could lead to supply and demand issues, ultimately resulting in higher rents. Recently, Knight Frank predicted rent rises to slow over 2023 and beyond, but still rise by around 4% for the rest of the year.A third of 2023 has now passed, so I’ve taken a look at the latest data available from ZooplaPro to see if we can spot any trends in the Wellingborough property market.

The number of properties for sale remained about the same in April (682) compared to March (688) and still higher than any other previous month since I started recording the data in January 2021.

Not only have the number of properties that have been for sale remained broadly the same, asking prices have only increased by £345 (0.12%) from £277,308 vs £277,653.

However, the asking prices of newly listed properties coming to the market have fallen by £7,231 (2.55%) to £276,387.

There are fewer number of properties that have had a price reduction too. For the first three months of the year there were 64 reductions in January (10.1% of the market), 63 in February (9.8%), 61 in March (8.9%) and down to 50 (7.3) in April.

For the whole of 2021, just 2.5% of properties had a price reduction.

In the first half of 2022, this was 3.3%

In the second half of 2022, this was 6.4%

Whilst this is largely positive news that it looks like the market is beginning to level out, there appears some way to go (possibly beyond the end of 2023).

There are other signs of the market still adjusting itself when we look at the average asking price of sold properties compared to newly listed.

Even though asking prices of new properties coming to the market have fallen by £7,231 (2.55%), the gap between that and asking prices of sold properties still stands at £24,271 (9.63%), which is an increase from £21,548 (8.4%) last month.

I believe this gap still needs to reduce by either increasing buying power or asking prices falling for a stable market to emerge.

In all likelihood, I think that mortgage rates are going to be about as low as they will be for a while, which means asking prices will need to come down a little further – around 5-10% – so that there will be enough buyers (not just those lucky enough to be able to get a great rate) who are able to fulfil the supply of homes.

If asking prices were to drop by 10%, this would put them at £249,888, or around the same price they were in November 2021 (£251,019).

The Rental Market

The average asking price for a property to rent in Wellingborough now stands at £870. That is £119 (15.8%) higher than 12 months ago and £167 (23.8%) higher than January 2021.

Mortgage rates are increasing, regulation on rented properties is increasing and the recent changes in capital gains tax and the scrapping of tax relief on buy-to-let mortgages are all driving some landlords to sell up and leave the rental market entirely, which will ultimately affect supply negatively.

According to research conducted by Simply Business, 61% of landlords sold a property in 2022 or are planning on selling a rental property in the near future with only 23% of landlords saying that they intended to purchase an investment property to rent out.

This could lead to supply and demand issues, ultimately resulting in higher rents. Recently, Knight Frank predicted rent rises to slow over 2023 and beyond, but still rise by around 4% for the rest of the year.