The Sunday Times April 3, 2022 3£750,000
COVER: DOUBLE EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHIC. OPPOSITE AND THIS PAGE: STEWART SMITH; PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPHIC; NOLIMITS PHOTOGRAPHYSOMERSET
This former cider farm in North Cadbury is now a
hamstone cottage with five bedrooms and a separate
summer house with orchard views only 20 minutes
away from Yeovil. 01722 426820, savills.co.ukWORCESTERSHIRE
Bursting with period features, this three-bedroom cottage
in Castlemorton has a separate medieval barn, a Victorian
cast-iron oven and an inglenook fireplace with a bread
oven. 01684 201320, nicolandco.co.uk
STAFFORDSHIRE
Beyond the pillared portico of Stowe Hill is a ten-bedroom
family home. A grade II listed building, it sits on two and
a half acres of land and is a 13-minute walk from Lichfield
town centre. 0121 314 5744, knightfrank.co.ukDEVON
Perched on a cliff edge, Clifton Cottage is a grade II listed
home with direct access to the Jurassic Coast. A six-
minute walk from Sidmouth, it has five bedrooms and
private parking. 01392 848839, knightfrank.co.uk
LONDON WC2H
This two-bedroom penthouse in a converted warehouse
is spread over two floors with south-facing views of
Neal’s Yard and only a short walk to Covent Garden Tube
station. 020 3553 7773, knightfrank.co.ukLONDON SW6
With 4,000 sq ft of underfloor-heated space, this stylish
six-bedroom home is in the “Alphabet Streets” of Fulham,
a 25-minute walk from Putney Bridge and Barons Court
Tube stations. 020 7993 9888, marshandparsons.co.uk
EDINBURGH
This five-bedroom Georgian townhouse in Howe Street is
set over three floors with a private garden. The grand
city centre home is a short walk from Edinburgh Waverley
station. 0131 516 2893, knightfrank.co.ukOXFORDSHIRE
Between Drayton and Sutton Courtenay, Gilbournes Farm
has five bedrooms, a cottage and a pool. It is 11 minutes
from Didcot Parkway, with trains to London Paddington.
01865 338300, thecountryhousedepartment.com
£1.57M
£2.95M £1.95M
£3.25M £3.99M
£3.6M
O/O
£1.57M
So is the housing market out
of control?
Sarah Coles, a personal
finance analyst at the
financial services company
Hargreaves Lansdown, put
it succinctly: “The housing
market is enjoying a Wile E
Coyote moment, as it briefly
appears to defy gravity. But
momentum can take the
market only so far, and
eventually even Wile E
Coyote looks down.”
With the Bank Rate
expected to tip 2 per cent
by the end of next year,
mortgage rates could hit an
eight-year high, according
to Capital Economics. This
will “put house prices firmly
into overvalued territory”.
“Increases in the cost of
financing for those looking
to buy their first home or
move properties is expected
to feed through into a
significant slowing in
housing market activity,”
says Karl Thompson, an
economist at the Centre for
Economics and Business
Research. “Our most recent
house price forecast points
to an annual 3.1 per cent
contraction in house
prices in the first three
months of 2023.”
“The boom could last
until the end of the year,
but the negative risks are
rising,” Neal Hudson, an
independent housing
analyst, says. “The rental
sector is where we will see
the first signs of pain. Some
people will need to make a
horrific choice about which
bill to pay: food, energy,
transport — and we might
see them not paying their
rent. Evictions will rise
before repossessions.”MARKET WATCH
BARRELLING UPWARDS
*March 2021 March 2022. Sources: Nationwide; Trading Economics200-2040%UK house prices, year-on-year change1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 201970 1980 1990 2000 2010 20Brent crude, $ per barrel80400$12014.3%
annual price
increase*UK housing
downturnsIS THE HOUSING MARKET
OUT OF CONTROL?
CAROL
LEWIS
@CarolLewis101I
t is beginning to sound
a lot like a return to the
1970s, but without the
Bay City Rollers. We
were then and are now
in the midst of an oil crisis
precipitated by a foreign
war, with rising inflation
and the looming threat
of recession.
The similarities between
the 1970s and today’s
economic crunch have not
gone unnoticed by the
governor of the Bank of
England, Andrew Bailey, 63
— a teenager during the
recession of 1973-75. “The
shock from energy prices
this year will be larger than
any single year in the 1970s,”
he said last week.
After oil price shocks
in the 1970s there was
double-digit inflation, high
unemployment, spiralling
interest rates and consumer
price inflation followed by
recession — and a downturn
in the housing market. Are
we going to see history
repeat itself?
The price of Brent crude
oil tipped over $100 a barrel
after Russia invaded
Ukraine, and inflation is
predicted to hit 10 per cent
within the year, with interest
rates climbing steadily. Yet,
counterintuitively, house
prices have risen by a
staggering 14.3 per cent
in the past year, according
to Nationwide building
society — an 18-year high.AT A GLANCE