Colchester house prices show green shoots of recovery

12:00pm Friday 3rd July 2009

By Lynne Milford

Figures from Nationwide Building Society show the average house price in East Anglia is £153,345, an increase of 5.2 per cent over the last three months.

In Colchester, the picture is much the same, with offers on properties beginning to reflect the asking prices.

Barry Haynes, of Boydens estate agents in Colchester, said the market was definitely improving.

He said: “Whether prices are going up is difficult to say, but the decline in prices is definitely slowing down.

“Properties which were on the market at the start of the year for £200,000 were getting offers of £150,000 to £160,000.

“Now they’re more likely to get people offering about £195,000, so the asking prices are definitely up.

“If you put your house on the market at a reasonable price then you’re going to get people taking it.

“There are a lot of potential buyers around but not as many properties as before.

“But things seem to have levelled out now and if you put a property on the market for £200,000, it’s likely to stay at that price.”

He explained, at the start of the year smaller, town centre properties were more popular because people were buying them as an investment to then let them out.

He said: “People are gradually buying properties which are the next step up for them, but one part of the market which isn’t doing well is the new-build flats because they swamped the market a few years ago.”

John Palmer, of Palmer and Partners in Colchester, said the drop in house prices prevented people from moving on to their next property.

He said: “Prices have increased over the last three months, especially at the lower end of the market.

“People are probably paying about £8,000 to £10,000 more now than they were at the beginning of the year.

“It’s been widely reported that house prices are increasing and that gives people confidence to buy.

“But the supply isn’t there at the moment, because people who are perhaps second-time movers don’t have the equity in their property.

“You want to have about a 25 per cent deposit and people just don’t have the value in their homes now.”

James Eniffer, from Sheen’s estate agents in Clacton, said: “Things have got much better here.

“Sales are up by about 20 to 30 per cent, which is great because it means people are selling.

“The prices are stalling and now people are getting close to their asking price.”

In the Braintree area, estate agents also say the market is recovering and there are signs of optimism.