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The more 2022 continues, the more I think property prices are going to be extremely dependent on the individual supply and demand for that property at the time it comes up for sale. This is tough for the media to get across to buyers/sellers, but it’s essential for agents in particular to do so. Using the average results from the stats we have seen to date rather than an agent’s local knowledge is essential for buyers to listen to. I’m also not a great fan of the automatic valuations often used to drive leads as when the data is like this, it could end up under-pricing some and overpricing others – and we know how badly that ends for everyone! Read my latest property price analysis here.
In October 2021, Maidstone Borough Council introduced a policy that keeps the homeless and their pets together under one roof. We believe it should now go nationwide. For more information, read the article.
Radio 4's Moral Maze asks 'What is our countryside for?'. I was recently asked to be a witness to support housing in the countryside. To do this, I did quite a lot of research and thought it would be useful to highlight how ridiculous the call is that developers are ‘concreting’ over Britain. My key point is that we have a housing crisis in the UK – but one that is rarely properly defined. The true housing crisis isn’t greedy landlords and developers, who are often blamed, it’s simple - read my article to find out more and listen to Kate Faulkner again.
The big question this month is how long can the price growth we are seeing go on for? Eventually, it just has to run out of steam, but so far this year, we are still motoring, mainly due to a lack of stock and keen buyers still happy to pay ‘top dollar’ for the property they want. However, it’s important to note that despite the flurry of articles by the media on how bad this is for first time buyers’ affordability, that property price inflation isn’t the same for all. Read my article to find out more.
It’s safe to say that many predictions made about the start of this decade turned out to be worthless. But it’s also true – as many people have said – that some of the ways that the COVID-19 crisis affected the world accelerated what was already happening rather than reversing their course. We’re going to look back on how that has all played out in the English planning system.