Bath Property Market Report – May 2023
Spring market in full flow?
Starting on a national level and according to the FT, UK mortgage approvals in April have beaten forecasts to hit a five month high. Nationwide data last month shows an increase of 0.5% in UK house prices ending seven consecutive months of decline. However, national house price indices have been conflicting to say the least since the New Year with Halifax reporting an unexpected 0.8% house price increase in March at the same time as Nationwides figures showed a 3.1% fall. Both lenders do compile their market reports based only on their own mortgage approvals which is less than the full picture for the national housing market but still a bit more timely than relying on Land Registry/ONS completion data.
Figures wise, headlines for Bath show a similar level of volatility – the agent comparison site GetAgent suggests asking prices in the city have changed on average -1.3% in the past 6 months whereas Rightmove suggest sold prices in Bath over the last year were 13% up on the previous year and 22% up on the 2020 peak.
So far this Spring, our own experience “at the coalface” would suggest demand remains extremely strong for low to mid priced property in the city and from both residential buyers and investors. From January onwards, we have had many instances of competitive offers on individual homes. Demand still seems to be split between local and out of town buyers. London relocators are still a common sight on weekend viewings and the HMO investor market is particularly busy at present.
In our March report, we compared 2023 activity with 2019. This month, we have looked back at the spring of last year which many analysts would suggest was close to the peak of the post pandemic market. However, on two vital statistics (see graphs below), we have also checked across the last seven years to get a greater understanding of the underlying trends;
Local property supply is recovering from the all time low of last year but remains thin on the ground historically speaking.
Spring sales are slightly slower to come by compared to the peak last year but remain well above most previous years.
As usual, we have set out below our standard data collection for you to use and interpret as you wish. The link to our full 2017-23 spreadsheet is at the bottom of the table if you need even more!
Figures below collected on and compared against our archive data from May 2022 (in red)
Total property on market in Bath
Rightmove – 547 vs 345
Zoopla – 346 vs 276
OnTheMarket – 191 vs 124
Home.co.uk – 532 vs 335
New Instructions in last 14 days
Rightmove – 159 vs 122
Zoopla – 64 vs 79
Home.co.uk – 87 vs 74
Average Time on Market
Less than 1 month – 30% vs 38.5%
Less than 2 months – 49.4% vs 55%
More than 1 year – 8.2% vs 13.2%
Selling Time in Bath (last 90 days)
Mean – 104 days vs 98 days
Median – 42 days vs 21 days
Properties for Sale in Bath by Price
Under 200k – 4.1% vs 6.2%
200k to 300k – 15.2% vs 18.2%
300k to 500k – 35.5% vs 33.7%
500k+ – 45.1% vs 41.7%
Median Selling Times in Bath by property type
Flats – 112 days
Terraced – 30 days
Semi-detached – 29 days
Detached – 26 days
Property on market by Type
Flats – 45.9% vs 51.1%
Terraced – 20.3% vs 18.6%
Semi-detached – 20.3% vs 18%
Detached – 12.7% vs 11.6%
Average property price by number of bedrooms
One Bedroom – £325,004
Two Bedrooms – £436,281
Three Bedrooms – £604,602
Four Bedrooms – £830,122
For our full spreadsheet , click here – 2017-23 Bath prop data
For more articles or information on our services, head back to our main homepage or follow us on Facebook for our latest property updates
