• 51% 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 12 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔

• 211 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅 (𝑺𝑻𝑪) 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 ‘𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅’ 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 19 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔

• 𝑻𝒉𝒆 £400𝒌 𝒕𝒐 £500𝒌 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 7 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 £500𝒌 𝒕𝒐 £1𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 58 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔.

• 𝒀𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒎 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 2022 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔?

There are 124 properties for sale today in Grantham; roll the clock exactly a year, and the figure was 251  – a drop of 51%. This drop is being dubbed ‘for sale board crunch.’

The ‘for sale board crunch’ has left many prospective Grantham home buyers stressed to find the right Grantham property as the number of properties available to buy has dropped significantly. 

I am sure you know people looking for their next Grantham home, so when they see it on the portals (Rightmove, Zoopla, Boomin, OnTheMarket etc.) the properties are gone in days. 

With demand at an all-time high, many Grantham home buyers are in a state of misery as Grantham house prices have grown in the last few years, forcing many of them to review their plans. 

They are victims of the ‘for sale board crunch’ in the Grantham property market, the likes of which have not been seen since 2007.

Normally when there has been excess demand in the residential sales market, that frothiness has been taken care of by people moving into rented accommodation. However, the number of Grantham properties available to rent is at a 15 year low. 

𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘆?

Demand for Grantham homes has exceeded the number of properties for sale since the General Election of December 2019. After years of long drawn out Brexit negotiations, homeowners and buyers were more confident about their move. Many Grantham people who put their home move on hold in 2018/19 had more confidence to return to the Grantham market. 

The first lockdown in the Spring of 2020 did nothing to quell this pent up urge, and since the late Spring of 2020, the Grantham property market has been on fire! The lockdown changed what homeowners were looking for in their Grantham homes. Proximity to public transport dropped down the wish list for buyers, and demand for apartments dropped. Whilst properties with larger gardens and rooms that could double up as home offices tended to be at the top of most Grantham buyers’ wish lists. 

𝐀𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟑𝟔% 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟖 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠–𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝟐𝟎–𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞.

Looking at the supply side of the equation. In the last five years, an average of 204,410 new homes per year have been added to the number of properties available to live in the UK. Also, 239,600 properties came back into the market when they became available after their owners had sadly passed away. Yet still, that isn’t enough. The country needs at least 300,000 new dwellings to keep pace with demand.

There is also another issue that has come to light with the cladding issue of apartments. Just over three-quarters of million apartments have issues with cladding. Whilst the issues are being sorted out (which will take many years), they are essentially unsaleable unless a fire safety expert on these buildings signs them as safe. 

These cladding issues prevent these apartments from coming on to the market (thus reducing the supply of properties to buy). It also precludes their owners from moving up the property ladder from their apartment to a house. Also, many first-time buyers who can save a bigger deposit or be gifted cash from the Bank of Mum and Dad are skipping the apartment as their first home and going straight for a house, thus intensifying the lack of larger properties for sale.

𝗦𝗼, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘄?

𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗔𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 – 𝟱𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀

𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 / 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 – 𝟯𝟵 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀

𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶–𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 – 𝟭𝟰 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀

𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 – 𝟭𝟰 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀

This means it is a seller’s market in Grantham, empowering them to push up their asking prices in high demand areas. However, most sellers are also buyers, which means the advantage they have in selling their property is turned on its head when they come to buy. 

Many Grantham sellers prefer to find their future Grantham home before putting their current home on the market. That is making the lack of Grantham properties on the market seem even harsher than it may otherwise be.  

The ‘for sale board crunch’ would be somewhat eased if Grantham sellers put their property onto the market whilst they were hunting for their next ‘forever home’.

However, not all Grantham homeowners are doing so, partially because they (wrongly) believe they will be made homeless if they find a buyer and can’t find another property to buy (remember, you are not legally committed to moving until the exchange of contracts/conclusion of missives).

A big issue will be finding a suitable Grantham home. We very much have a chicken and egg scenario. Some homeowners are waiting for the right property to come onto the market before they put their home on the market. This will probably mean that the Grantham property will sell even before the photographs have been taken of your home.   

Yet, many Grantham homeowners are worried if they put their house on the market and it sells, they won’t be able to find another suitable home and thus be homeless? 

𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐠𝐠 – 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭? 

There is another way of doing this. It’s a technique Estate Agents used to use before the internet, and it’s called ‘chain building’. Many Grantham homeowners are contacting me to move home yet don’t want to be made homeless. What we do is slowly build a group of people in a chain over many months. It requires a lot of patience to build a chain downwards and upwards around you.  

There is no cost to this and no legal commitment to go through. It can take six, even twelve months to build a chain of people who are prepared to wait for the chain to form. 

Yet, everyone normally gets their next ‘forever home’ by playing this long game.

Because if you don’t play the long game, build relationships with Grantham Estate Agents (who can build these chains) and only rely on waiting for properties to appear on Rightmove, Boomin, OnTheMarket or Zoopla, you will be sorely disappointed.  

According to national research from Denton House Research, 7 out of 8 people who viewed a house through an Estate Agent in 2021 were not on the mailing list of that agent before they viewed it. 

That means all these Grantham properties, built on a chain builder (as above), will sell, yet won’t appear on Rightmove or Zoopla, meaning you will miss out. 

You must get yourself on the mailing list of our estate agency (and other agents if they do this chain building) so you don’t miss out on your next forever home in Grantham. 

If you would like a chat about anything mentioned in this article, feel free to drop me a message or call me.