Cheadle Property Market 2021 Review and 2022 Preview

There are now just 356 days until Christmas! Ok we promise this won’t be a recurring theme throughout the year in our monthly Cheadle property market updates, but we do hope everybody had a lovely Christmas and New Year that was both happy and healthy. 

Now the tree and decorations will be coming down or already done in many cases! People’s minds will turn to what their hopes and aspirations are for in 2022 and for many that will include asking the question – is it the right time to move home? Will you be working from home more in the future and need an extra room? Do you need more or less space for any one-off a few reasons? Maybe more outside space is going to be important? Or do you need to move for school catchments? 

Looking at the Cheadle housing market in 2021, it has been a phenomenal year if you were selling – but not so much if you were buying another!  It was a record year for the number of homes sold in the SK8 area and prices increased a massive 13.4% on average. The big issue during the second half of the year and especially Q4 was the chronic lack of properties coming to the market, keeping the prices high as multiple buyers were scrapping over the few available homes, which often led to multiple bids and best and final offer situations that pushed prices up further. 

When you break it down by property type, if you have a detached home in SK8 you should be happy as prices have risen an average of 18.7%, standing at almost £480,000 or if you equate that to actual pound notes a massive rise of almost £90,000 on the year. 

Despite the unexpected rise in Interest Rates in December and the threat of further rises in 2022, it didn’t seem to deter house hunters, despite there being almost 50% less choice in December 2021 compared to December 2020 – there were 31% more daily property views on Rightmove, which suggests there is still plenty of desire for property as we head into 2022 

When we break down the new listings for December, we see there were 37% less properties coming to the market than the previous December. Interestingly, there was a chronic shortage off detached and semi-detached homes going on the market, down 60% and 47% respectively, but for the first time in a long time there were more terraced homes listed than last December. A small crumb of comfort for house hunters maybe? 

Finally, when we look at the number of sales across the SK8 area, it follows a very similar pattern, which is understandable, with 25% less sales than a year ago, purely down to numbers. The biggest disparity is in the number of detached homes sold, down from 31 in 2020 to just 8 in 2021 – a whopping 74% less. Semi-detached home numbers were very similar and there were more flats and bungalows sold in December 2021 than 2020. So, perhaps some green shoots of improvement as we head into a New Year. 

So, what does this all signify for 2022? Most property market forecasters brave enough to put their head above the parapet are fairly cautious with their predictions for house prices, with the Halifax suggesting a modest 3% growth, Rightmove similarly cautious at 5% and the Nationwide the most optimistic at 8%. As this year has proven, SK8 and SK3 have been above the national average and the law of economics is governed primarily by supply and demand. If the stock levels remain as low as the second half of 2021, prices are likely to remain strong, although other factors such as rising interest rates and fuel bills may have an effect and of course unemployment and any further spike in Covid. As always, we like to remain cautiously optimistic, but feel we will have a clearer picture of the direction of travel for the year at the end of Q1 and definitely Q2 2022.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of the housing market in SK8 or SK3 or would like to get an idea as to the current value of your home, please call Patrick, Joe or Maurice on 0161 428 3663, e-mail sales@mkiea.co.uk , pop into our High Street office in Cheadle or visit our website https://mkiea.co.uk/valuation/ to get an instant rough idea of the value of your home or arrange a more accurate FREE valuation and marketing consultation at your home at a time convenient for you.