Latest Bath property market statistics now available
So the kids are safely back to school and the mini heatwave seems to be over but what is the state of play currently with the Bath property market as we move swiftly towards autumn? Plenty of local data to chew through below but do let us know if you have any questions!
National headlines from early September
- House prices fell at their fastest annual rate in 14 years in August, according to the Halifax, as rising mortgage rates affected the market.
Despite the fall in property values, the Halifax said that prices were only back to the level seen at the start of last year, and still £40,000 higher than before the pandemic.
- House prices are 5.3% lower compared to August last year in the biggest annual decline since 2009, according to Nationwide.
The building society said the drop represented a fall of £14,600 on a typical home in the UK since house prices peaked in August 2022.
- The number of houses sold in the UK this year is on track to be the lowest since 2012, according to property website, Zoopla.
- A record number of people are getting help from family members to enable them to buy a house, a study suggests.
Financial support from the “Bank of Family” is expected to help with 318,400 property purchases this year, according to Legal & General
- The rising cost of renting has again hit its highest level since comparable records began in 2016, with strong demand from tenants.
Prices paid by UK renters rose by 5.3% on average in the year to July according to the ONS
Local property news
If you want to see quite how much a difference of a year makes in the local property market, take a look at our latest Bath market report at the end of this article. Working from the most reliable data (Home.co.uk), the year on year increase in available stock is 35%. At the same time, the median selling time vis last September has lengthened by a very similar amount. This also shows in the average time on market figures with nearly 10% more property staying on the market for 1 and 2 months respectively. Lastly, if you want to compare on a more short term basis, have a look at the last section of selling times vs our last report two months ago.
In perspective terms though, the current data is still well above figures from pre-pandemic Sept 2019 – average stock levels then hovered around 873 properties with a median selling time of 55 days (albeit with a faster average time on market). Yes, corrections have happened post Covid but this was always likely after such a volatile period and with mortgage rate increases to boot.
From a ground level local view and after speaking with several other agents in recent weeks, August seems to have been significantly more active in sales and viewing terms that almost any summer holiday period in the last ten years. Although the rubbish weather may have played a part in discouraging some UK breaks, we think a traditionally quiet sales period turned out to be rather busy. Correctly priced properties received heavy viewing numbers and, from our experience at least, resulted in several multiple offer scenarios.
Justifiable pricing does remain absolutely key to engender good early interest and there is a wide variety of success between agents and owners in this regard. To illustrate this, have a look at the disparity in success rates in the infographic below;
Bearing in mind this is the 5 most successful agents in Bath for raw sales totals so far in 2023, it would appear there might be several pricing strategies in play. However, to be fair there are also differences between each agent in the markets they work in and some property types / price brackets are also more active than others at present.
Bath September property statistics
Figures below collected on 11/09/23 and compared against our archive data from September 2022 (in red)
Total property on market in Bath
Rightmove – 697 vs 465
Zoopla – 583 vs 330
OnTheMarket – 247 vs 157
Home.co.uk – 711 vs 466
New Instructions in last 14 days
Rightmove – 159 vs 135
Zoopla – 67 vs 60
OnTheMarket – search option not available
Home.co.uk – 76 vs 85
Average Time on Market
Less than 1 month – 23.4% vs 32.6%
Less than 2 months – 43.7% vs 52.3%
More than 1 year – 9% vs 10%
Selling Time in Bath (last 90 days)
Mean – 109 days vs 83 days
Median – 44 days vs 28 days
Properties for Sale in Bath by Price
Under 200k – 5% vs 3.8%
200k to 300k – 14.9% vs 14.8%
300k to 500k – 33.8% vs 34.9%
500k+ – 46.1% vs 46.3%
Property on market by Type
Flats – 42.4% vs 48.2%
Terraced – 20.5% vs 21.7%
Semi-detached – 21.6% vs 17.4%
Detached – 15.5% vs 12%
Extra section comparing selling times with our last July 2023 report
Median Selling Times in Bath by property type – September 23 vs July 23
Flats – 62 days vs 54 days
Terraced – 43 days vs 28 days
Semi-detached – 36 days vs 28 days
Detached – 44 days vs 38 days
