Bedale area is booming but soaring UK house price rises are predicted to gradually slow later this year

The annual Search Partnership House Price Index, which covers the Thirsk, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Harrogate, Wetherby and Bedale areas, has revealed a 7.9 per cent increase in values over the past year. It is the highest year-on-year rise since the index launched 11 years ago and the last time average prices in this area rose as much in a calendar year was during the recovery after the financial crash of 2008.

The Search Partnership, which specialises in sourcing property, used Land Registry data that records the average price paid per square foot. This shows that the highest annual increases in property values were seen in the villages around Bedale, which recorded a 15.3 per cent rise, and in the villages surrounding Wetherby, which saw 11.9 per cent growth. Paid prices in and around Thirsk showed no increase over the past year and those in and around Harrogate saw a three per cent gain.

The lower growth in these two prime areas is thought to be due to them seeing very high levels of growth in the preceding year. Toby Milbank, director of The Search Partnership, says:

“The main reason for the overall average rise of 7.9 per cent in the area is that the housing market has a herd mentality.

“When lockdowns came to an end, the herd mentality was palpable, and with so much positivity and hype surrounding the marketplace, the fear of missing out meant competition for homes was rife. Estate agents’ books were full of properties marked ‘under offer’ and buyers were desperate to secure a house before they missed their opportunity, with prices rising considerably as a result.”

Looking ahead, The Search Partnership predicts that the housing market will remain firm. Tom Robinson says: “With household income being put under pressure by higher living costs and with interest rate rises looking more likely, the lower end of the market may cool.

However, for detached houses in the middle and upper end of the market, the number of buyers in the marketplace remains high and we expect a four per cent rise in house prices across the Thirsk, Ripon, Boroughbridge, Harrogate, Wetherby and Bedale areas.”

New figures from Rightmove show that average house prices in Yorkshire rose by 1.8 per cent over the past month and by 9.8 per cent year on year. The average time taken to sell was 31 days. The neighbouring North West saw a 1.9 per cent monthly rise, an 11.4 per cent annual gain and the average home took 32 days to sell. The North East recorded a 2.5 per cent monthly increase and 11.2 per annual growth and the average time taken to sell was 31 days.

Despite growing economic uncertainty, Rightmove says that the 2022 market continues to set new milestones for price and activity levels. Properties are selling faster than ever, twice as quickly as in the more normal market of 2019 and just over half, 53 per cent, of homes are fetching the full asking price or over.

The price of property coming to market has hit a new record high for the third consecutive month and a supply and demand issue means that sellers are able to find a buyer quicker than ever, twice as fast as in the same period in 2019.

This momentum is despite the growing economic headwinds, though Rightmove predicts that these will slow the pace of house price rises as the year progresses. Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Data, says: “This year has started with price-rise momentum even greater than during the stamp duty holiday fuelled market of last year. While growing affordability constraints mean that this momentum is not sustainable for the longer term, the high demand from a large number of buyers chasing too few properties for sale has led to a spring price frenzy and the quickest selling market we have ever seen.

“The high speed of the market and competition among buyers will be deterring some owners from putting their homes up for sale. However, if you can secure both a quick sale and a quick purchase then it’s a lot less stressful than the uncertainties of a slower market when finding a buyer for your own home can drag on or not happen at all.”

He predicts: Strongly rising inflation and modestly rising interest rates are being kept at bay by the even stronger tailwind of property market momentum that has carried over from last year. 2021 saw four consecutive monthly price records from April to July and I would not bet against that being bettered this year.

“However, it can’t and won’t continue like this, but with the demand and supply imbalance being so out of kilter, it looks like any substantial slowdown will be gradual in coming and be a soft rather than hard landing and it’s likely that the supply and demand mismatch will remain for at least the rest of this year."