February 2025 Press Coverage
Antony Roberts’ experts are often asked for their opinions on various aspects of the housing and rental markets. Below, is a selection of our comments which appeared in the press in February.
It is well known that property transactions can take a long time, with The Telegraph asking Amy Reynolds, head of sales at Antony Roberts, how long buyers and sellers need to allow for. She commented: “How long is a piece of string? If it is a leasehold property, conveyancing can take approximately 16 weeks, less for a freehold – around 12 weeks. But some are quicker, some are slower.” She explained further: “Lack of transparency at each stage can hold things up, resulting in buyers, sellers and their agents not chasing the right things on the right day.”
Average UK house prices rose by 4.6 per cent in the year to November, according to the Office for National Statistics. Amy Reynolds told Money Week that activity was also looking up so far this year: “[We have had] more applicants in January than in the final quarter of last year, some of whom have found themselves in a position to buy because a first-time buyer has completed their chain.”
It is hard to tell whether we are in a buyers’ or a sellers’ market, as some homes are being snapped up quickly while others are taking longer to sell. Amy Reynolds told The Times: “The biggest change I’ve noticed in 25 years in the business is that when I started everyone wanted an unmodernised property – now nobody wants them. It’s not just because of the build costs either: a shortage of rentals to stay in while you renovate also puts people off.”
The Bank of England cut interest rates to 4.5 per cent in February. Amy Reynolds told Property Industry Eye: “A rate cut helps the housing market hugely as it gives borrowers an affordability boost, filtering through to lower mortgage rates, which encourage activity. The Bank of England was widely expected to cut rates this month, and with borrowing costs remaining high compared to the pre-2022 norm, this is a welcome move. The stamp duty holiday has helped transaction levels with an increase in sales agreed in those chains where there is a first-time buyer keen to take advantage of the discount before the end of March. While this has been welcome, there is concern that once the stamp duty holiday ends, there will be a dip in activity and transactions, which is why this rate cut is so important.”
The Times looked into sealed bids and how they work, with Amy Reynolds explaining that a five-bedroom house in Richmond on the market with Antony Roberts for £1.25m had gone to sealed bids: “Sealed bids are not always linked to a market,” she said. “It can just be the right house, at the right time – we haven’t had a five-bedroom house in that catchment area for months.” For buyers worried about being played off against others, she added: “Sealed bids allow people to decide on their true maximum bid without the pressure of being in a ping-pong game of offers going back and forth and not knowing when it will end. It’s an equal opportunity – it creates a level playing field.”
There seems to be a growing number of people falling foul of planning permission rules, with work required to achieve compliance or the seller having to take out an indemnity policy. Amy Reynolds told The Sunday Times: “Solicitors frequently request indemnity policies in these cases, but I believe these policies are often unnecessary. They don’t address the actual safety or quality of the work. If an extension has been standing for 20 years and a surveyor identifies no defects, it’s reasonable to proceed without concern.”
The latest property transaction report from HM Revenue & Customs found that there was little change in activity in January (95,110 transactions) compared with 96,050 transactions in December. Commenting in Mortgage Introducer, Amy Reynolds said: “These figures offer valuable insight into overall activity and are a key indicator as to how the market is likely to shape up in the first half of the year. Steady transaction volumes show that higher borrowing costs and affordability pressures are impacting buyers, preventing the market from running away with itself. Early January was quiet, but the month as a whole turned out to be busier than usual with a good number of market appraisals, which bodes well for a strong spring market.”
