Islington Property Market - July 2024

Your desirable Islington update from the postcodes of N1, N5, and N7 in London. In addition, I cover national statistics, currency market updates, and showcase sales price heat maps from Bricks&Logic. Enjoy!

Jacob x

?? AVAILABLE ISLINGTON PROPERTIES

• 1291 - up +4.3% from 1238 in June. ?
• Down -4.4% from 1,351 in July 2023. ?

?? NEW LISTINGS

• 311 - up +5.1% from 296 in June. ?
• Up +7.6% from 289 in July 2023. ?

?? SALES AGREED

• 186 - up +8.1% - from 172 in June. ?
• Up +20.0% from 155 in July 2023. ?

?? PRICE REDUCTIONS

• 178 - up +31.9% from 135 in June. ?
• Down -4.8% from 187 in July 2023. ?

?? LISTED FOR MORE THAN 12 WEEKS

• 1348 - up +6.1% from 1270 in June. ?
• Up +9.6% from 1,230 in July 2023. ?

?? AVERAGE DAILY VIEWS PER PROPERTY

• 81 - up +12.5% from 72 in June. ?
• Up +35.0% from 60 in July 2023. ?

Islington Market Takeaways

• The number of available properties for sale in the past year is on the way back up, but not exceeding last year's July levels.
• A big positive sign for Islington is that new listings, sales agreed, and daily views per property are all rising.
• More properties are listed for sale for more than 12 weeks, and with more price reductions than in June, buyers have choices.

Jacob's note...

Overall, Islington's property market is gaining momentum, with 20% more sales agreed this July than last year. With 81 average daily views per property - up 21 eyeballs compared with last July - Islington sees lots of buyers looking at 4.4% fewer available properties for sale, a minor decrease considering 1291 homes are up for grabs, where the market saw 7.6% more new listings than last year.

This increased competition means that sellers have to price right at the outset to avoid the adverse effects a price reduction brings. It is also important to present your property beautifully, to attract eyeballs, desire, and thus motivated offers. Rightmove's research shows that properties that need an asking price reduction take more than 3 times longer (112 days) to find a buyer than those that do not reduce price. Sellers who price right from the outset may sell 3.5 times more quickly, averaging 32 days to get a sale.

The Land Registry has published the average sold prices for properties sold in May. Below is the data for Islington (Borough) and Inner London, compared annually with May 2023, and monthly with April 2024.

?? ISLINGTON (BOROUGH)

• Borough Average: ￡698,381 Annually: +0.7% Monthly: +4.4% ??
• Detached House: ￡1,923,102 Annually: +1.1% Monthly: +5.1% ??
• Semi-Detached House: ￡1,352,466 Annually: +3.0% Monthly: +4.7% ??
• Terraced House: ￡1,149,862 Annually: +2.2% Monthly:+5.2% ??
• Flat/Maisonette: ￡611,496 Annually: +0.1% Monthly: +4.2% ??

?? INNER LONDON - AVERAGE SOLD PRICES

• Borough Average: ￡585,256 Annually: -4.3% Monthly: +1.9% ??
• Detached House: ￡1,444,787 Annually: -5.8% Monthly: +5.0% ??
• Semi-Detached House: ￡1,012,204 Annually: -1.7% Monthly: +3.7% ??
• Terraced House: ￡746,659 Annually: -3.3% Monthly: +2.5% ??
• Flat/Maisonette: ￡525,746 Annually: -4.9% Monthly: +1.6% ??

May's Sold House Prices Takeaways

• Islington borough's house prices are appreciating well, showing a desire to own property in the area.
• The graph shows a minor trend in increasing house prices across Inner London and Greater London.

Jacob's note...

Considering inner London's house prices decreasing annually this July, as well as in June, May, April, and March (as reported previously by me) Islington is a great place to put your money in property. As seen on the graph, the borough of Islington is way less volatile than neighbouring borough of Camden.

National Market Takeaways

• Simon Gates reported that there were 12.80% more properties on the market for sale nationally during July 2024 than in July 2023. More choice for buyers is great news as it brings more people to the market, meaning more sales agreed. With more properties available for sale and higher mortgage costs, house price growth is hindered. Sellers should also bear in mind that with more competition from other sellers, with buyers having more choices while their affordability is a bit stretched, sellers have to price correctly from the outset.
• 28.22% more sales were agreed than in July last year, however -1.64% fewer than the 6-year average. This is a good sign, as despite the September 2022 Truss ministry’s mini-budget turbulence, 2020 and 2021 record low interest rates and stamp duty holidays, followed by mortgage costs rising, war, cost of living prices, it is a very good sign of the market to only be -1.64% down on the 6-year average.
• Price reductions are nationally up 12.30% since June, and up 5.63% compared with July last year, while a whopping 30.16% up on the 6-year average. During the crazy 2021 and 2022 property markets with Covid and very low interest rates, price reductions were not many, and now they have returned - if not exceeded - the more normal pre-pandemic 2019 level.
• On the more positive side, fewer properties were withdrawn nationally. 27.08% fewer than in June, 28.61% fewer than in July last year, and 16.98% below the 6-year average. More serious sellers are on the market and they are more realistic with their pricing. If not priced correctly at the outset, sellers are indeed listening to their agents and reducing their prices instead of withdrawing from the market.
• Gates said that more properties are coming back onto the market, as rates are coming down, and more property choices means more sellers are willing to take the step to move and to list their property for sale again. Relisted properties are up nationally 14.71% since June, up 37.50% on July last year, and up 41.05% on the 6-year average.

• Rightmove reported in July that the average national asking price July drop was bigger than the 20-year July average of -0.2%, as sellers try to cut through the summer distractions with a tempting price.
• Number of sales agreed nationally remains encouraging at 15% above the same period a year ago, when mortgage rates were approaching their peak. Compare this with June which was 6% above last year. While the number of new sellers coming to market is a steady 3% above last year.
• Buyer demand remains stable overall. A key concern for many home-movers is when the first Bank of England Base Rate cut will be, and there are signs that some pockets of movers are waiting for this before acting. The financial markets expect that the first Base Rate cut will be in August or September.
• The average five-year fixed mortgage rate is now 4.97%.
• Rightmove reported that despite concern among some of the General Election, their millions of data points show that the vast majority of people have been getting on with their moves since the election was called.

• Zoopla reported that the housing market continues to adjust to 4%+ mortgage rates with increased market activity rather than faster price growth.
• UK house prices are on track to be up to 2% higher over 2024.
• The supply of homes for sale continues to grow and is 16% higher than a year ago. One important feature of the housing market at present is that there are more homes for sale than at any point in the last six years. This is improving choice for home buyers and supporting more sales. Jacobs: Remember that more supply means more sellers, most of whom are also buyers, motivated to move by a range of reasons.?
• Zoopla said that buyers are paying a greater proportion of the asking price than they were last year when higher mortgage rates hit demand. In London and the South East, 96.3% of the asking price is achieved, which was last year less than 95%. Higher mortgage rates have hit demand and buying power hardest in southern England.

• There was no OnTheMarket report published during this July.

Jacob's note...

• Fewer withdrawals are a strong sign of recent year’s craziness sellers listed their properties at high prices only to not achieve it - thus withdrawing their property from the market.
• We have seen the first reduced base rate in a long time, which will drive activity in the property market.

Currency Market Update

Steve Eakins from Lumon reported that during the last days of July and into August (around 25th July to 8th August) the value of the Pound Sterling (GBP) dropped by over 2.5% against the Euro (EUR) and 1.7% against the US Dollar (USD). ????

To put this into perspective, a ￡500,000 UK property on the 8th of August was approximately €15,000 cheaper or more than $11,000 less expensive to purchase compared to the 25th of July two weeks earlier.* This timing is - and should - be an important criterion for overseas buyers seeking to purchase and complete a property transaction.

*Comparing high and low of the inter-bank price, indicative rates. The rates are subject to live rate movements.

The maps below from Bricks&Logic show the 12-month change in house prices (value change) in Islington, in Greater London, as well as in England and Wales.

Jacob's note...

Incredibly, there is a clear difference in estimated values in Islington, marked by Pentonville Road and City Road. Further up in Islington, towards Highbury and Holloway, properties appreciated well and rose in value over the past 12 months, sometimes up 6%.

My name is Jacob Littorin and I am your Personal Estate Agent in Islington. My mission is to get you the best price and smoothest process when selling your property and moving to your new home, in what might be the biggest transaction of your life. ??

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*The data from Rightmove shows resale & new build detached houses, semi-detached houses, terraced houses, unspecified houses, flats/apartments, bungalows, and land.