Rightmove has just issued its latest Property Price Index for the UK Property Market. This will affect us here in West Wales wherever your buyers are selling, but we thought we would dig a little deeper and take a look at our own property prices in our local areas.

But before we get into the figures, we wanted to note that there are still plenty of buyers looking to purchase in our areas, as we feel it’s important to remember that.  Also, it’s worth remembering that there is a buyer out there for every property, which means every house will sell.  Some fly out the door, others do take longer, and there is no rhyme or reason for this, there is no way of knowing which will go quickly or which will stick.  But they will all sell, eventually.

The Figures

Below we take a look at the house price index for our areas over the past 4 years, comparing pre and post COVID-19 property prices, to see where we sit now.

House prices rose across the UK following the pandemic, with prices in our counties increasing a whopping 20.2% in Ceredigion, 20.4% in Pembrokeshire and 21.3% in Carmarthenshire during the peak.  However, we are now seeing prices drop back down to around pre-pandemic levels as the market stabilises. More properties become available to purchase and the market changes from the sellers’ market we have seen over the past few years to a buyers’ market, which is more in line with what we are used to seeing.

Back in August 2019, house prices were at 0.5% in Ceredigion, 6% in Pembrokeshire and 4% in Carmarthenshire. 

Ceredigion:

At its worst prices dropped to -4.9% in April 2023 in Ceredigion, this has now risen to 3.1% as of August 2023, bringing Ceredigion house prices back up above the pre-pandemic levels in August 2019, so the prices have now dropped by 17.2% since the peak:

Pembrokeshire:

In Pembrokeshire property prices dropped to -6.5% in June 2023, this has, quite surprisingly, stayed low, only increasing slightly to -6.3% in August 2023, meaning the prices have dropped 26.8% since the peak:

Carmarthenshire:

Carmarthenshire however has seen prices dip as low as -0.5% in May 2020 but have since recovered and are now sitting at 0.5% as of August 2023, down by 20.8% since the peak:

So what does this mean for the next few months? 

It is impossible for us to predict the future, we wish we could of course, but it is looking like the market will continue to level off, with some areas dropping further, before things start to stabilise, and possibly improve.  It could of course continue on the downward trend that the graphs above show. 

We are lucky in this area as there are still plenty of buyers around, but they are all more mindful of the drop in prices, as shown above. The cost of living crisis along with the increased mortgage rates also factor heavily into their decision-making. For this reason, it is important to make sure prices are realistic and correctly reflect the market we now find ourselves in. 

It’s also important not to be worried about re-aligning your property price in keeping with the current market.  Some people look at reducing their property prices as a disadvantage, but to do nothing is not going to help either. If a property has not had any offers, and all else looks to be in order, such as good photos, a well-presented video tour to showcase your home, floor plans etc, then the only other things that can be putting people off is either the price or the location.  We can’t do anything about the location, but we can do something about the price.

Also, if you are looking to buy on, the same market conditions would affect how much you buy your next home for, in other words, if prices are reducing here, they are also reducing where you are looking to purchase, so it will all balance itself out.

If you would like to speak to us about this in more detail please Contact Us Here and we will be more than happy to help.

*Land Registry Figures are found here – Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire true as of November 2023