South West Property Boom

The Nationwide Building Society ‘s report for the first quarter of 2010 gives clear signs of a recovery in Devon. The UK market saw an average growth of 1.6 per cent, with London coming top and annual price growth now positive in all regions.

Commenting on the figures, Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “Outside of London, the East Midlands, Outer South East and South West saw the strongest quarterly performance within the English regions, each registering a 2.3 % rise in prices over the quarter.”

Bruce Penny, of Penny’s Estate Agents in Exmouth said: “Activity this month has been strong and the market is continuing to slowly improve.”

Will and Margaret Bennett, 62 and 63, were in Exmouth house-hunting today and said: “We are faced with a problem because although we want to buy a property in this area, we are selling in the North, and that is the one area that I understand saw price falls this quarter. If we sell and rent for a while, we risk pricing ourselves out of the bracket we are looking at if prices continue to rise in the South West.”

Sandra Smith, 32, was also walking around town with a bundle of property details under her arm. She said: “I’ve owned a house on Egremont Road for a few years now and am keen to move to a bigger property but although I have a buyer, I haven’t found anywhere I can afford to move to yet and so I’m toying with the idea of renting – but I’m afraid of prices shooting up while I’m out of the market and then my situation being more difficult. It’s hard to know how serious the talk of price increases is for the area.”

Have you recently had your property valued and been pleasantly surprised - or disappointed? Or have you managed to sell for the price you wanted? Aside from the reports and statistics, it would be interesting to know what’s happening at ground level.  Why not write a comment or even a story about your recent house selling experiences in Exmouth!