Rollercoaster Property Prices in Staines and Stanwell Village

 Last week a landlord who lives in Stanwell Village popped into our offices on the High Street in Staines whilst his wife was having her hair cut at a salon just round the corner from us.  He wanted to discuss what exactly is happening in the Stanwell and Staines property market, as our article in the Staines Property Blog in the Summer indicated property values had been rising by £394 per week in Staines, £360 in Ashford and £225 per week in Stanwell.  In that article, we indicated that these property price increases were over the last 12 months (Summer 2013 to Summer 2014) and we went on to say that in the Spring of 2014 the property market was showing superb growth.

I was able to let him know that I had carried out some more detailed research over the past few weeks which produced some very interesting statistics for the home owners and buy to let landlords alike of both Staines and Stanwell.  In the second quarter (April to June) of 2014, average property values in Staines rose by £21,171 or £1,764 per week.  However, in quarter three 2014 (July to September) average property values had tempered and the average Staines property had only risen by £541 per week.  This has been mirrored in Stanwell too as average property values rose by £20,461 or £1,705 per week in quarter two 2014 and tempered to £512 per week in quarter three. 

Talking with other agents in Staines, this slow down was not entirely unexpected, giving mounting evidence of a moderation in activity over the last few months we found mortgage approvals dropped by approximately a fifth between January and May 2014 and there has also been some softening in forward looking indicators, such as new buyer enquiries.  On the other side of the coin, with the labour market strengthening, landlords are looking for a home for their savings, mortgage rates are expected to remain low and with consumer confidence rising, activity is likely to recover in the months ahead. 

It all comes down to doing your homework, asking questions of the agent and owners, find out their motivation for selling and see if you can “bag that bargain”.  Trust me they are still out there and in fact on the Staines Property Blog, we will post each week what we consider is the best buy to let investment in Staines and Stanwell, irrespective of which agent the property is on the market with.