Don’t wake me up before you go-go!

January 2, 2017 by Rob Kahl @ Scott & Stapleton

Don’t wake me up before you go-go!

I don’t think that there will be too many people sorry to see the back of 2016. It has been a strange old year on a number of different levels and not one that will go down as a classic.

One of the most memorable things about the year will undoubtedly be the number of celebrities that have died. Huge, iconic figures that I have grown up with seemed to drop like stones. It started right at the beginning of the year with David Bowie and ended with George Michael passing, and had loads in-between including people such as Mohammed Ali, Victoria Wood & Sir Terry Wogan.

When a celebrity passes away it is a strange feeling. I obviously didn’t know any of the people personally but they have all played a small part or provided a soundtrack to my life so there is a definite feeling of grief.

On a brighter note there were much more positive things that happened in 2016 including the Rio Olympics which was a huge success for Team GB and the year will be looked upon very fondly by any fans of Leicester football club. But the overriding feeling that we seem to have as the year draws to a close is of uncertainty (the favourite of the housing market!!).

I don’t know if you were aware but apparently we voted to leave the EU? That was a bit of a shock but seems to have finally sunk in, now though we would like a bit more detail of what it actually means and no one seems to know. It looks like we have voted for something without really thinking of the consequences or know what it actually entails. We will just have to wait while MP’s try and either reverse the outcome of the referendum or negotiate the best possible deal on our behalf. Who knows what we will end up with?

The other major global shake up that happened this year was the little matter of 'The Donald' being voted as the next President of the United States of America. What started as a bit of a joke or a stunt for the reality TV star when he first threw his hat into the ring, grew in momentum and eventually saw him beat all of the equally lame competition. The man must have skin as thick as a Rhino? Looking from across the water it seemed that the more outrageous he became the more popular became. There was not a group in the American society that he didn’t offend including women, Muslims, Mexicans, Homosexuals and just about everybody else along the way, but, he seemed to strike a chord with the disaffected blue collar workers of the USA as he swept to victory albeit by the skin of his teeth.

But as with the EU vote the world will hold its breath in 2017 to see what Donald Trump actually does when he takes office. Little is known about his policies as most of the campaign was taken up with slagging off the opposition rather than telling anyone what he was going to do if he won. It is already looking a bit worrying as he starts to form his government with various members of his family and other cronies.

So even on the world stage we will enter into a period of uncertainty and will wait and see what happens.

Getting back to more local matters and what you are probably most interested in is what has happened to the Leigh-on-Sea housing market in 2016? To fully understand we have to look even further back and look at what happened in 2015.

Looking back now with hindsight, I think that we can all agree that 2015 was mad. As we are all aware by now, Leigh-on-Sea was featured extremely positively in a number of national surveys as the place to be and there was stability on a national level as a majority as Conservative government took power and the economy started to get back on track. All that together saw a huge spike in popularity in the town and together with what has always been a lack of supply for a growing demand, we saw house prices locally soar by approximately 20% over the year.

As we entered into 2016 I think we all expected it to carry on and keep going. It didn’t quite happen though! 2016 has not been a bad year and house prices have definitely not fallen, in fact, in the most desirable locations such as the Marine Estate or Chalkwell they have continued to rise. But it has certainly been much more steady.

Annual price rises of around 5% for this year are more the norm. This has not been down to anything on a local level and Leigh-on-Sea is still as popular as ever, it has been down to the national uncertainty and changes that have taken place that you may not even have been aware of.

As we started the year, it looked very positive as lots of people rushed to buy investment properties before changes came into place regarding stamp duty and tax breaks for second homes and investment properties. These came into place in March and after that, certain properties such as flats and small houses became much more difficult to sell.

Straight after that came the Brexit vote which shouldn’t have had much affect locally but gave that air of uncertainty as Sterling suffered and quite rightly people took a step back before taking on a new house or commitment. Straight after Brexit was the summer holidays which is always a quiet time in the housing market and then straight after that was the US elections which again has made people reluctant to take the plunge in to the housing market. This has lead to the housing market being much more steady than we expected.

I must stress that it has not been bad and if anything, has been better than in 2015 as the steady growth we have seen in 2016 is much more sustainable and better for everyone rather than the mad panic before as people became desperate to get on to a fast moving housing market.

So what can we expect for 2017? Well I think it will be much more of the same. There will undoubtedly be the uncertainty of what happens on a national or global scale as Brexit looms and Donald Trump takes charge, but there will also be stability as it looks unlikely that interest rates will change and mortgages rates will continue to be at an all time low.

On a local level I think it will be an interesting year as I see no reason why Leigh-on-Sea will not continue to be as popular as ever but we could see an increase in supply as lots of new developments of flats either near completion or start and with large developments of houses in Rochford & Rayleigh we could see a glut of property on the market in 2017 which could have an adverse affect on prices.

There is also a lot to look forward to in 2017. It will be the 20th year of the Leigh Art Trail and the organisers are making big plans to celebrate in style and on a personal note I hope to run the London Marathon in April which frightens the life out of me.

So once again we enter in to a new year full of hope and optimism fully expecting to have to roll with the punches of whatever is thrown at us. Who knows maybe 2017 will be the year that The Grand is finally re-opened but I seem to remember saying that at the beginning of 2016 & 2015 & 2014…..

This article is by Rob Kahl at Scott & Stapleton
Tel: 01702 471155
Website: http://www.scottandstapleton.co.uk

Thanks to Rebecca for the picture! Check out her instagram here: rocketsandback