“The Bolton and Bury property market is robust and has previously at times been resilient to pressures from the wider economy. There remains a shortfall in supply of both quality sale and rental residential property to the market. The local property market has strong fundamentals which I would expect to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Sometimes it’s easy to forget, but there are superb employment opportunities in our town (particularly with the addition of the Logistics North development), wonderful schooling facilities, beautiful countryside and remarkable leisure, sporting facilities and excellent transport links, that will always be attractive.
These are no doubt trying times for all us in the community, as everyone of us as individuals, families, and businesses / schools / organisations are going to be effected by the utility price changes. However the price cap that has been detailed by the new Prime Minister on Thursday, due to come into effect in October, limits the price that a typical household will pay to £2,500 per annum for two years.
Although this is once again a rise in the utility cost, it is actually a helping hand, for us all and may be around an annual saving of £1,000 a year for most households in comparison to the expected price rises that we were all no doubt worried about.
Recently we have seen interest rate rises, these will have an impact on the affordability of mortgages for new purchases and those renewing after a fixed rate term. As we move towards the Winter, the interest rates and utility costs may well further the squeeze on house hold budgets. Therefore pressure on prices may well continue from the “demand” side, as these market headwinds continue.
The local property market is hardy and built on strong foundations. As time progresses an annual property price rise of single figure percentages, rather than the recent double digit growth is much more likely. Hopefully this slowdown in the rate of growth is a cooling off, rather than anything more dramatic. Certainly the price cap for the next two years will remove some of the household budgeting concerns that were in place, and will hopefully create a period stability that can only be helpful to anyone planning a property move.”
Andrew Cardwell MD Cardwells 08/09/2022
