The question on everybody’s lips! What will happen to the property market in Doncaster in 2023? Now is the time where estate agents and property professionals start dusting off their crystal balls and making their predictions for the coming year.

The results normally vary wildly, for the simple reason that the property market is extremely difficult to predict. Why? Well, take bungalows as an example. There aren’t many of them and they tend not to be built new anymore (or certainly not in large volume). So when the market corrects itself or properties start to lose value, bungalows tend to do so at a slower rate than say apartments.

So how will Doncaster fair overall next year? It’s difficult to say. The City has huge employment potential with the completion of projects such as the iPort. With more schemes in the pipeline, such as the Unity project in Hatfield, investment and employment will continue to come into the area. What is pretty clear is there is going to be some sort of correction within the market. It’s not possible for it to continue to grow at the rate that it has in the last 2 years whilst inflation rises and without wage growth following at the same pace. Our feeling is that whilst next year will be challenging, any drop in house prices will be minimal and will affect certain areas and properties less than others.

But, it isn’t all doom and gloom! Here are 4 reasons why we feel that Doncaster may just outperform other areas of the UK.

1. Banks will remain keen to lend to Doncaster residents

Naturally, everybody is going to start looking back to the 2007/2008 crash to compare and make predictions. But things are different this time around, that crash was driven by the property market with banks running low on cash and having little or no reserve in large swathes of properties. This time, due to tighter lending checks, the banks (and property owners) will be able to avoid this for the simple fact that owners have more equity in their homes.

The average house price in Doncaster will mean that loan to value rates and lending criteria that banks set will still be achievable and realistic.

2. Mortgage rates have started to drop

Really, how when interest rates are rising?

Yes, really. Whilst mortgage rates have risen due to the base rate having been increased, the biggest rise in mortgage rates increasing was due to the “mini budget”. As pretty much all of the schemes set out by Liz Truss and her Chancellor were scrapped or reversed, the nerves in the UK market settled and mortgage rates came down.

3. People still want to move

Over the last few years the desire to move has increased faster than the UK’s ability to provide new housing. This has been one of the main drivers of the rapid growth in house prices as purchasers were almost always competing against fellow purchasers and forced to bid against them. That isn’t going to change. Whilst it is true that supply and demand will probably both fall slightly in 2023, there will still be more people wanting to move than available properties. The result, an active property market.

4. Doncaster is a great place to own property

Doncaster has always been a great place to own property and over the last few years the reasons for doing so have increased. It’s location in the UK is almost second to none. The names of companies relocating or expanding their operations into the City leaves many other towns and cities jealous.

The next year will certainly see large news outlets predicting large scale losses and crashes in the market, but remember, good news doesn’t sell as well as bad news does. Look at the market locally and speak to local estate and letting agents to determine what is happening to the Doncaster property market in 2023.

If you like this blog be sure to check out our historic article here.