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Housing Solicitors

House prices in Midlands continue to soar (30 September 2014)

Date: 30/09/2014
Duncan Lewis, Housing Solicitors, House prices in Midlands continue to soar

New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that homebuyers in the Midlands are facing increasingly high property prices, with house prices up by 7.3% in the West Midlands in the last 12 months to July – and up by 7.6% in the East Midlands.

Across England house prices rose by 12% – with a 19.1% spike in property prices in London.

However, local publisher the Burton Mail reports that house prices will continue to rise until just before the May 2015 general election.

The director of estate agent the Crew Partnership – based in Burton – said that both estate agents and buyers were always “at the sharp end” of any changes in the housing market, such as spikes in property prices. Dave Powell told the Burton Mail:

“Because of the spike in values, we have been able to sell a lot of properties which had been on the market for months and hadn't previously been selling, which is obviously a good thing.

“Unfortunately, though, on the negative side of things, a lot of houses have gone up by an extra five or ten thousand pounds, pushing them just out of people's budgets – so homes that they would have been able to buy a few months ago are now out of reach for them.”

Mr Powell added, however, that the seasonal spike which takes place between March and July every year would stabilise over the Christmas period.

Mr Powell added that more stringent lending criteria introduced as a result of Bank of England concerns over the potential for risky mortgage lending had made it harder for first-time buyers to secure mortgages.

He added that because the market had become buoyant, he did not anticipate that house prices would rise until Spring 2015, just before the General Election, however.

The nationwide rise in house prices has led to more families having to rent homes rather than buying their own homes.

The government’s Help to Buy scheme has fared better in helping first-time buyers onto the property ladder outside London than in the capital – but many families are still being forced into renting properties. This in turn has led to higher rents – and in some cases, poorly maintained housing stock as renters compete for affordable housing and landlords capitalise on their profits by failing to carry out essential repairs to properties they rent out.

Duncan Lewis Housing Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of specialist housing solicitors and can advise homeowners on issues such as debt management and mortgage repossession, as well as offering competitively priced conveyancing services to homebuyers.

Duncan Lewis is also a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors and is able to advise social housing tenants and rental tenants on a wide range of housing matters, including:

• Disrepair of rental property
• Housing possession
• Landlord & Tenant disputes
• Local Authority housing
• Nuisance neighbours
• Unlawful eviction.

For expert legal advice on housing law, contact Duncan Lewis housing solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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