What does the latest RICS Housing Data tell us about Residential Sales and Lettings in Sussex?

Each month the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) release a thorough report on UK residential housing market trends. This data-heavy report offers valuable insight into the economy and is used by our sales and lettings team as a guide for our sales and lettings strategies. We’d like to share recent news from this report with you, to help you stay informed about the housing market too. Whether you’re looking to buy or sell, invest or rent, you are likely to find this information useful for your own research and decision-making processes.

Key trends for House Prices in the first quarter of 2019

The good news at the beginning of this year, is that for 62% of properties listed below an asking price of £500,000, the sale price or higher has been achieved - this is a national trend. If your property is valued correctly to start with and the asking price is sensible, then you can feel confident that offers will be sensible. However, asking prices have dropped a little, especially in less popular areas. But we are finding in the South East for our resales and New Homes sales that prices remain steady and are continuing to gently rise. Demand for new homes is high, which has been proven with our recent launch events across a number of new build properties, all of which have been exceptionally popular particularly in areas on the outskirts of Brighton such as Seaford, Lewes, Angmering, and Shoreham-by-Sea. Buyers are keen to reserve off-plan even in the case of properties that are marketing up to 12 months ahead of build completion.

There has been a drop in overall instructions for residential sales across the UK, but again, this doesn’t really reflect on our popular area of Sussex particularly as there are many new homes being built. There is plenty of stock in the form of new developments with some great move-in incentives such as Stamp Duty Paid, Legal Fees Paid and so on, and a lot of movement to these new homes from vendors of older properties, meaning there is plenty of choice on the market for buyers in Sussex at the moment. We are finding some resale homes come under offer within a matter of days of being listed.

Nick Williams, Branch Manager at our Shoreham-by-Sea office deals with Residential Sales, and at the moment is very busy with New Homes.

“We have recently launched off plans sales for a large new development known as The Waterfront in Shoreham-by-Sea , which is nestled against the River Adur, offering some of the best views Shoreham has to offer. The launch day attracted close to 400 guests all keen to see brochures and pricing and we have been consistently reserving properties since 11th May 2019 with people eager to secure their chosen plot. We have 2 show houses available to view and a fantastic 3D model within our Shoreham office and are finding this is generating a steady flow of enquiries and we have certainly been very busy.”

Key trends in the private rental market in the first quarter of 2019

Although there have been many changes for private landlords of late, such as the tenant fee ban, changes in tax and a proposed abolishment of the Section 21 notice, there is some positive news. For the next 12 months, a 2% rise in rents is projected – there are likely to be less private landlords in the market due to the current changes and therefore more demand per property, but also the costs are reflective of rising costs to landlords. Tenant demand in general is still growing too, and we are never short of potential tenant enquiries in the Brighton and Hove areas.

Murray Kerr, our Residential Lettings Manager in Brighton and Hove explains more:

“Since the tenant fee ban came into effect, we have seen an increase in activity, which shows that tenants now feel more able to decide to rent a property without any fees to pay. We would expect the average rent to increase over the next year which will help landlords to balance the books.”

If you’re thinking of selling your property and would like a free valuation, and some advice and guidance on selling your Sussex home, our Brighton, Lewes and Shoreham branches are all on hand to help. See the contact page for branch details.