Cheadle Property Market Update May 2021

It seems quite incredible that May 2021 saw the twelve-month anniversary of the house market reopening during the pandemic. Nobody knew what to expect.

But here we are heading to towards hopefully the easing of more restrictions on the 21^st June 2021 as the great vaccination roll out continues at an impressive pace. Shops and High streets are reopening and welcoming back visitors, as is the hard-hit hospitality industry and most importantly friends and family can start to meet each other again. There is definitely an air of some form of normality returning, however I do wonder if things will ever be the same again.

Amazingly, through all this, the housing market has remained steadfastly resilient. Obviously, the government assisted in underpinning the market with the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday, which was then subsequently extended to the 30^th June 2021 for transactions up to £500,000 and September for property purchases up to £250,000. This allied to interest rates being historically low and therefore money cheap to borrow and various first-time buyer schemes providing 95% mortgages, has all come together to create a perfect storm and the busiest market in years.

A buying frenzy!

According to the national Rightmove index for April, they have seen the fastest-selling market since their records began. They report a ‘buying frenzy’ for new stock, with both the average number of days to sell a property reaching its lowest ever level, and the number of houses selling within a week reaching its highest ever level. The national average asking price of property listing on their site hit a new all-time high of £327,797, representing a 2.1% (+£6,733) monthly jump.

In May the Nationwide House Price Index showed annual house price growth had risen to 10.9% the highest level in seven years, so there seems little sign of the insatiable demand dropping any time soon.

So, what does that mean for the Cheadle property market? Well, one thing is clear demand is far outstripping supply. The figures below show the stark reality of the current situation. The average available stock across the Cheadle area in May was 298 against an average of 588 in May 2020 – down 48%, yet the detailed daily views on Rightmove have increased from 100.3 last year to 197.6 this year – a rise of 97% – so in lay terms – twice as many people looking at half the available properties! Indicates how tough it is for buyers, but great for sellers of course!

What is clear as you will see from the graphs below showing the individual breakdowns, per property type listings are up 42% on May 2020, but sales were up a massive 272%, so the rate of sales is far outstripping the number of new properties coming to the market, which of course keeps an upward pressure on house prices, with multiple buyers and offers on nearly every property.

The graph below shows the current live data for house prices in Cheadle by type and the percentage increase in values over the last 12 months. In real money terms this means if you have a detached house in the SK8 area, on average the value has increased by £32,197, a semi detached house has gone up an average of £27,746, a terraced house £16,575 and a flat £15,568. Some quite eye watering figures!

From our experience we found many of our properties being snapped up within days of going on the market, especially semi-detached houses around Aber/Boundary Road, terraces close the village like Cromer Road, Jackson Street, New Hey, Bulkeley and Newboult Road and detached homes on the Orrishmere Estate in Cheadle Hulme or around the Broadway/Daylesford Road area – all for above the initial asking price! We really do need more homes to sell!

If you are thinking of selling now or in the near future and would like to discuss the Cheadle Property Market in more detail, please contact Patrick, Joe or Maurice on 0161 428 3663, e-mail sales@mkiea.co.uk or why not pop into our office on Cheadle High Street for a chat.