A four-bedroom detached home was the most expensive property sold in Bedfordshire last quarter. The Biddenham Turn, Biddenham, home sold for £1,725,000 in May, making it the priciest house to sell in the last three months.
It is an increase from when number 10 Biddenham Turn, a four-bedroom detached home sold for £740,000 in December 2015. The second dearest property in Bedfordshire between April and June was The Old Orchard in Church Lane, Oakley, which sold for £1,675,000 in May.
It is a far cry flat 116 in Priory View, Church Street, Dunstable, which sold for £52,500 in April. It makes the flat the cheapest property to have sold in Bedfordshire over the past quarter.
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Average house prices across the UK increased by 12.8% over the year to May 2022, up from 11.9% in April 2022, according to the most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics. Between the beginning of 2016 and the end of 2019, there was a general slowdown in UK house price growth, driven mainly by a slowdown in the south and east of England.
The start of 2020 saw a pick-up in annual growth in the housing market before the coronavirus restrictions were put in place at the end of March 2020. Recent price increases may reflect a range of factors including some possible changes in housing preferences and a response to the changes made to property transaction taxes across the nations.
In July 2020, the Chancellor announced a suspension of the tax paid on property purchases in England and Northern Ireland, with similar suspensions announced in Scotland and Wales. This may have accounted for a rush of demand in mid-2021, as annual price rises soared to a 13.5% increase in the year to June 2021, as the suspension ended in Wales and the saving was reduced in England. There was another smaller rush in September, with annual growth at 11.5% that month as the stamp duty holiday ended in England.
According to the Land Registry, 40,133 home sales have been registered for April, 31,609 for May, and 6,896 for June. It may take several weeks for sales to be registered after completion so some sales from later in the period may not be listed yet. The impact of coronavirus has meant that it is still taking longer than for sales to be registered.
The Land Registry has also warned its services are likely to be disrupted due to the pandemic, particularly the process of registering a new sale, which likely means a longer delay between the house sale completing and the record being updated at the Land Registry. Based on the data covering the period so far, across England and Wales, there were 2,498 £1m or more sales, including 411 at £2m or more.
The Land Registry lists the price paid for every property bought at market value. The data also includes sales under a power of sale/repossessions, buy-to-lets (where they can be identified by a Mortgage) and transfers to non-private individuals.
As the data relies on buyers, or their solicitors, registering the sale and the price paid with the Land Registry, mistakes in listings may happen, they are usually corrected at a later date. Issues can include figures with too many digits or shared ownership prices paid for a part share listed as the whole price.
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