The Sunday Times - UK (2022-02-06)

The Sunday Times February 6, 2022 3

O/O

£400,000

COVER PHOTOGRAPH: LORNE CAMPBELL/GUZELIAN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES; MAKEUP: LAUREN CURTIS, @MAKEUPBYLAURENCURTIS. THIS PAGE: RALPH

MEDIA GROUP; MISHA PHOTO; JURAJ LADZIANSKY

BERKSHIRE

Tanglewood is a three-bedroom period house renovated

by the present owners. It comes with lifetime membership

at the local country club in Knowl Hill, a 15-minute drive

from Maidenhead. 01491 844901, knightfrank.co.uk

DUNDEE
Decorative cornicing mingles with renovated bathrooms
in this five-bedroom mid-terrace Victorian villa in
Broughty Ferry, a seven-minute walk away from the beach
promenade.01382 847113, verdala.co.uk

BRISTOL

Live a 20-minute drive outside the city centre in Stoke

Bishop and get a detached four-bedroom family home,

with parking, a log-burner, a garage and sunny gardens.

0117 317 1996, knightfrank.co.uk

KENT

Set in 8.5 acres in the village of Benenden, half an hour’s

drive from Tunbridge Wells, this four-bedroom home has

a private woodland, stables and a one-bedroom annexe.

01622 686686, sandersonsuk.com

NORTH YORKSHIRE

Three-bedroom Chapel Cottage forms part of Eshton Hall,

a historic country mansion, a five-minute drive from

Gargrave station, which has direct trains to Leeds taking

less than an hour. 01423 393319, carterjonas.co.uk

LONDON SW19
Sitting on the first floor of an attractive Victorian house,
this studio flat is on a quiet residential street, a short walk
from Wimbledon train station. It comes with a share of the
freehold. 020 3823 9253, knightfrank.co.uk

BATH

This detached, period barn conversion has large gardens

and backs on to open fields only five miles outside of

Frome. It has five bedrooms, a study, a pantry, and a Bath

stone archway. 01225 637689, carterjonas.co.uk

OXFORDSHIRE
This two-bedroom grade-II listed thatched cottage is in
between Banbury and Brackley in Souldern, Bicester, with
a stone-built fireplace, exposed beams and an alfresco
dining area. 01295 676587, struttandparker.com

£1.295M

£1.5M

£295,000 £895,000

£485,000

£275,000 £1.395M

Andrew Wishart, a

property economist at

Capital Economics, a

consultancy, predicts that

the rise is the first of four

this year that will take the

bank rate from 0.5 per cent

to 1.25 per cent.

This could push mortgage

rates from their low of an

average of 1.5 per cent in

November last year to

2.5 per cent by the end of

this year — the highest since

2015. It would take the
      average amount of
      household disposable
      income spent on mortgage
      repayments from 38 per
      cent to 43 per cent. This will
      cool buyer demand and slow
      house price growth to 5 per
      cent by the end of the year,
      according to Wishart.
      Karl Thompson,
      economist at the Centre for
      Economic and Business
      Research, is more bullish:
      “Whilst we had already
      factored in this month’s rise,
      it was particularly notable to
      see that four of the nine MPC
      members voted for a sharp
      hike to 0.75 percent,
      suggesting that a further rise
      could be seen sooner rather
      than later in the spring.
      We’ve therefore cut our 2022
      forecast from 3.6 per cent to
      3.3 per cent, and that for
      2023 from a fall of 0.4 per
      cent to fall of 0.7 per cent.”
      Interest rates are an
      important part of the
      equation, but there are other
      factors at play, including the
      rising cost of living.
      This week’s rise will not hit
      the property market hard.
      Instead we can expect it
      to cool slowly as interest
      rates steadily rise over the
      coming year.

MARKET WATCH

Savings are for a typical three-bedroom, gas-heated home, using a gas price of 7p/kWh and electricity price

of 28p/kWh (based on April 2022 price cap). Source: Energy Saving Trust

Simple tips to cut your energy bills

Potential annual saving

Take a four-minute shower

£65

Switch off standby

£55

Avoid using the tumble dryer

£55

Draught-proof gaps

£40

Don’t overfill the kettle and fit a tap aerator

£33

Wash at 30C and reduce use by one run a week

£28

Insulate your hot water cylinder

£35

Turn off the lights

£20

Reduce your dishwasher use by one run a week

£14

Swap one bath a week for a shower

£11

WILL THE INTEREST RATE

RISE HIT HOUSE PRICES?

CAROL

LEWIS

@CarolLewis101

W

e are in the midst of

the hottest property

market for 17 years

with the average

house price in

January 11.2 per cent, or

almost £26,000, higher than

it was a year ago, according

to Nationwide.

Nothing short of a sudden

injection of houses for sale

or a huge rise in borrowing

costs is likely to quell the

flames. As such the 0.25

percentage point interest

rate rise, taking the bank

rate to 0.5 per cent, will go

largely unnoticed by those

clamouring to buy homes.

“It won’t have an impact

on the property market

because supply is so low and

prices so high,” says Simon

Bath, the chief executive of

iPlace Global, a property

technology company.

The latest rate move will

add about £300 a year to

the average mortgage bill

for those on the standard

variable rate, but most

borrowers are wary of rate

rises and fix for five years or

more. “People are more

mortgage aware, more

willing to switch and fix

deals,” Bath adds. In

response, Lloyds Bank

announced the cheapest

ten-year fix on record, with a

1.66 per cent interest rate.

Bath believes that it would

take another 0.5 percentage

point rise before the rate had

an impact on home prices.

AT A GLANCE