There are plenty of property market forecasts and predictions making the headlines around this time of year, as many are wondering how the market will perform throughout 2018.
Property analysis firm Hometrack has conducted their own research and produced a forecast for the next 12 months, with some surprising figures regarding first-time buyers.
According to their research, Hometrack expects first-time buyers to be the largest buyer group of 2018, predicting 35% of all sales this year to come from those taking their very first step onto the property ladder.
In comparison with forecasts from many other experts within the industry, first-time buyers would account for approximately 400,000 sales over the next 12 months.
With all the talk of an increasingly unaffordable market for first-time buyers, this prediction is somewhat surprising; however, the growth within this group could be attributed to the recent scrapping of stamp duty for anyone buying a house for the first time, saving buyers thousands of pounds when making a purchase.
Insight Director at Hometrack, Richard Donnell, offered his thoughts on the 2018 forecasts,“We expect first-time buyer numbers to continue to grow in regional housing markets where affordability is more attractive. First-time buyer numbers have fallen by 10% in London over the last three years as affordability pressures limit access to the market.”
Existing homeowners are the second largest buyer group, only overtaken by first-time buyers by a small margin, accounting for 34% of sales in 2018.
Hometrack’s report has shown that transactions in 2017 took a slight drop in the capital, however, other large cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow saw a rise in activity between 6% and 8% across the last year.
It is expected that the other regions will continue to offset the London market and for the UK as a whole, the report predicts an average growth of 3% with the largest cities in the UK expected to record 5% growth in value.
