Figures highlight that average sale prices across the UK started to level out during Q1 09, with a decrease of only -0.8% when comparing values against Q4-08 (-7.6%). The property-type most in demand by buyers during this period was mid-market housing offering three-bed/four-bed accommodation.
Within the London sales market, there was a 13% increase in viewings and a 7% rise in the number of offers for property during Q1, when compared with the same period last year.
In the country market, although there continued to be a decline in average capital values, this was at a far slower rate than any quarter during 2008. Sale prices across the country were down -0.8% in Q1 09, compared with a decline of -5.9% in Q4 08. The sales value of smaller country properties declined by less than larger houses. One-bed and two-bed properties were down -0.7%, whilst larger four-bed semi and five-bed detached properties declined by an average -1.1%.
“There has been growing momentum in the sales market during the early months of 2009,” according to Marc Goldberg, head of residential sales, Hamptons International. “Confidence is steadily beginning to return. Whilst it is important not to get too carried away, there have been definitive signs of the downturn bottoming-out. It is the lack of significant supply to the market and the impact on prices achieved since the end of last year that is worth watching now.”
