London’s twenty year house price bull run combined with stamp duty and fears over Brexit has caused a slow down in the number of houses sold in London and has left opportunities for businesses cashing in on clients renovating and looking for energy efficiency in their current home rather than spending on costly stamp duty.
This sales slump is pretty understandable when considering how London’s house prices have outpaced salary growth over the last twenty years considerably. It was probably only a matter of time before sales slowed and prices even reversed According to the ONS.
The ONS stated that UK-wide growth was hit by the South and East of England prices wobbling. London managed to record the weakest readings with house prices on average dropping 0.7% percent by June which is the biggest slow down since September 2009 says the ONS. It was the fifth month house prices fell in London this year and house prices only ended up 2.2 year on year, the worst since 2012. According to recent Land Registry data, house sales have slowed by more than twenty per cent in the last year which is powering a market of home improvers.
This is creating a busy market for builders and London construction companies. ‘London is experiencing a boom in the construction and home improvement sector in my view. The number of enquiries we receive for energy efficient sash window repair, draught proofing, and double glazing is now over 350 on average a month which is a 300% rise on four years ago before the market began to falter. It’s my opinion that people are spending money making their homes more comfortable with sash window double glazing upgrades and the likes rather than costly moves’ says London Sash Window Repairs Ltd Managing Director, Christopher Gould
Whilst the slow down is affecting estate agents both with rental and sales, there’s clearly opportunities emerging. It stands to reason that moving is expensive and there’s better value in working on improving your home, or even extending. Upgraded sash windows to improve home comfort to gain the extra space certainly seems to make sense similar to a loft extension when factoring the average move cost in London is now up to £33,000 according to the Daily Mail. This is money better spent on working with what we have and some London business is booming as a result.
Leave a Comment