New homes

Chelmsford Housing Market Is Extremely Busy

August 27th 2021

At Intercounty, we have been very busy of late, and we know how active the housing market has been of late. Also, the leading property portal in the country has confirmed how busy the market is. Rightmove figures show that the opening half of 2021 is the busiest the UK housing market has been in years.

Rightmove states the national average for property asking prices stands at £336,073.

What is happening right now in housing market?

Some of the key highlights according to Rightmove are as follows:

  • With the first half of 2021 seeing 140,000 more sales being agreed and 85,000 fewer new listings than the long-term average, this surge in activity has revealed a shortfall of 225,000 homes for sale which, if available, would have corrected this stark imbalance between supply and demand, and would have stabilised price growth:

  • Homes with four beds and more facing biggest imbalance with 39% surge in sales and 15% fall in numbers coming to market versus 2019, resulting in an average price hike of 6.7% in the last six months

  • Mass-market three bed sector sees 28% jump in sales while suffering 10% drop in new supply versus 2019, with prices jumping up by 6.9% so far in 2021

  • First-time buyers faring best as sector of two beds and fewer has unchanged new seller numbers with sales up by a slightly smaller 26%, resulting in a smaller average price rise of 3.4% for the half year

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Data, comments: “We predict that the number of completed sales will be the highest ever seen in a single month when June’s data is released by HMRC later this week. This means it’s likely that the first half of 2021 has seen a record number of moves when compared with the first six months of any other year, induced by the pandemic’s side-effect of a new focus on what one’s home needs to provide. That is one of the driving forces behind four consecutive months of new record average property prices. Demand has also been boosted by the ongoing creation of new households, and property being seen as an asset to hold, with historically low returns from many other forms of investment. New stamp duty deadlines in England and Wales for sales completed by the end of June have also helped to exhaust the stock of property for sale and concentrate activity. This has left prospective purchasers with the lowest choice of homes for sale that we’ve ever recorded, continuing price rises, and stretched affordability.”

How is the Chelmsford housing market performing?

According to Rightmove, house prices in Chelmsford are as follows; “Properties around Chelmsford had an overall average price of £401,836 over the last year.

The majority of sales around Chelmsford during the last year were semi-detached properties, selling for an average price of £411,537. Detached properties sold for an average of £563,360, with terraced properties fetching £333,991.

Overall, sold prices around Chelmsford over the last year were 6% up on the previous year and 9% up on the 2018 peak of £367,215.”

At Intercounty, we are here to assist you as best we can. We are local specialists in the Chelmsford housing market, and if you are keen to connect with likely buyers, we can assist you.

For all sales enquiries in Chelmsford, please feel free to call us on 01245 251442 or why not email us at chelmsford@intercounty.co.uk. With considerable experience in the local housing market, and free valuation services, we look forward to helping you make an informed decision in the Chelmsford property sector