10.41% slump in Lincolnshire & Stamford Property Transactions

In this post credit crunch world of low interest and annuity rates, the growth of buy-to-let since 2009 has been phenomenal.

So much so, there has been an evolution in the purchase of property in the UK from that of just buying a ‘home’, to that of a ‘buy-to-let’ investment, where it is seen as a standalone financial asset to fund current and future (i.e. pension) investment.

Recently, a few days before the release of latest Land Registry data of property transactions, quite a few market commenters were anticipating a huge increase in the number of properties sold in January as the 1^st of April 2016 stamp duty deadline got closer.   

Looking at the most recent data from The Land Registry, it seems there has been a drop in the number of completed property sales in the Lincolnshire County Council area

Year on year, completed property sales in January (the latest set of data released) fell bya 10.41% to 800 compared with 893 in January 2015.  Nationally, the number is similar, as the number of completed house sales fell by 5% in January 2016, compared with January 2015.

Some might say this counters the reports that there was a rush by landlords to buy ‘buy-to-let’ property ahead of the 1^st April 2016 deadline, but where was the stampede that many expected?

Looking even closer to home, in the PE9 postcode in January 2016, 39 properties changed hands, whilst 51 properties did so in January 2015.  It’s even more interesting when you look at the average price paid, in January 2016, it was £308,910 yet in January 2015, the average price paid was £303,722.

Is the buy-to-let dream over for Stamford landlords?

As ever, my Stamford property blog readers, “the devil is in the detail”.  The 3% stamp duty surcharge for buy-to-let landlords was announced in the Autumn Statement on the 25^th November 2015.

Anyone who has bought a property knows from their offer being accepted to receiving the keys and monies paid, the process is a protracted, drawn out affair, taking on average 8 to 12 weeks, as the Land Registry only get notified upon completion of the sale.  We also need to factor in that solicitors seem to have the last two weeks of December off anyway.

If there was a rush in the last few days of November/early December in the Stamford property market, we would only see the results of that in the February figures (released in June) and probably reflected more so in March’s data (released in July).

When we look at the whole picture, nationally property values dropped (month on month) by 0.5%, and in the East Midlands region they dropped 0.3%, whilst in Lincolnshire they rose by 0.5%. The year on year figures tell a completely different story to that.

It just goes to show you should look deeper into something before making a judgment!

 

For more thought provoking commentary on the Stamford property market – please visit the Stamford Property Blog; www.rutlandandstamfordpropertyblog.co.uk