A report that has been released by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has suggested that the North West and West Midlands regions of the UK could be property hotspots in 2017, as average house prices in these areas are expected to rise higher than the national average of 3%.
East Anglia prices are also expected to be above the national average, and alongside the North West and the West Midlands these three areas are set to continue the trends that were recorded in 2016 in terms of beating the national average.
Some more positive news to come out of the report is that the average house prices in Central London could be set to improve following the struggle and declines of 2016, as foreign buyers could potentially be encouraged by a weaker exchange rate and therefore help to stabilise the Central London prices.
The RICS Chief Economist, Simon Rubinsohn, has commented, “Although recent announcements by the government on housing are very welcome, the ongoing shortfall of stock across much of the sales and lettings markets is set to continue to underpin prices and rents.
“As a result, the affordability challenge will remain very much to the fore for many. Meanwhile the lack of existing inventory in the market is impacting the ability of households to move and will contribute toward transaction activity over the whole of 2017 being a little lower that in the year just ending.”
January will see the much anticipated arrival of the Housing White Paper, with Jeremy Blackburn of RICS suggesting that a strong feature of 2017 could be the proposed ban on letting agent fees and the consequences that come from this, and Blackburn has claimed that a co-ordinated strategy for building across tenures is needed in the UK.
Everything will be much clearer come January, so we shall have to wait and see how this develops.
