With most local families home schooling their children in lockdown and the forthcoming Stamp Duty Holiday deadline on the 31st March 2021, less local properties have been coming onto the Chorley property market since the New Year. This has prompted a 9% drop in the supply of local homes for sale compared to September 2020.
For the past couple of decades, like clockwork, Chorley estate agents’ busiest times for putting property onto the market is the new year to Easter rush, with a smaller flurry of new properties coming onto the market in the mid/late summer. Yet, since the ending of lockdown 1.0 in the late spring 2020, nothing has been normal about the Chorley property market.
Throughout the summer, the number of properties coming onto the market in Chorley steadily rose to its peak in September and the number of properties then becoming sold subject to contract (stc) rose even higher (and whilst statistics don’t exist for the properties sold stc, anecdotal evidence suggests there were just under 50% more local properties sold stc in the last six months of 2020, compared to the same 6 months in 2019).
The first lockdown caused many Chorley homeowners to want to move with the need for extra space to work from home and in some cases larger gardens. This was further exacerbated by home movers also trying to take advantage of the Stamp Duty holiday to save themselves money on this tax.
This meant many more Chorley properties came onto the market (more than a “normal” year) in the last 6 months of 2020. However, those home movers motivated to move for the extra space/save money on the tax, did so in the summer/autumn and have already placed their home on the market (and are probably by now sold stc rushing to get their house purchases through before the deadline on the tax savings).
Whilst there are some differences between the supply of individual types of property in Chorley (e.g. semi-detached vs detached houses), the overall reduction in the number (i.e. supply) of properties for sale can only mean one thing, when there is a reduction in the supply of anything and demand remains stable, this will mean continued upward pressure on house prices in the short term.
Lockdown 3.0 will probably cause another wave of people who want to move home (thus increasing demand). The last property crash (the Credit Crunch in 2009) was caused by a huge increase in the supply of properties for sale when people lost their jobs and interest rates were much higher. People couldn’t afford their mortgages and so dumped their homes onto the market all at the same time – causing an oversupply of property for sale and hence house prices dropped. So, as long as there is no sudden change in the demand or supply of properties and interest rates remain at their current ultra-low level – the medium-term prospects for the Chorley property market look good.
If you are a local homeowner, looking to buy or sell and require advice or opinion on where the market is and where your home sits in the property market picture – feel free to drop me a line.
Email me on info@forbesestates.com or call on 01257 273 324 – we are based at 353 Preston Road (A6) Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley, PR6 7PY.
Best regards
Paul Forbes
