In recent years, Signature Private Finance has spread its wings from its headquarters in the Midlands to open offices in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh. These decisions were made to take advantage of our belief that we would witness a more active property market in these regions.

Whilst these offices and our relationship managers located in and around them have delivered above our expectations, you’re never certain you’ve made a good call until it is supported by data that proves you right.

So, it was with a certain satisfaction that Savills latest UK Housing Market Update showed average annual property price growth to August 19 was highest in Scotland (a band from Glasgow to Edinburgh), South Wales, including Cardiff, the South West and parts of the Midlands.

The top performers were Dumfries and Galloway, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen, which enjoyed growth of 14.0%, 13.0% and 10.0% respectively, with previous low prices attracting professional developers if our work in those areas is any measure.

There is little surprise that the increasing prices across most of the UK, with a few exceptions in the North East, have been balanced by significant falls in and around London, with areas like Hackney and Reigate seeing a 5.6% drop in the year to August.

Looking forward with 2020 vision

Whilst there remains a degree of pessimism around the property market, expectation of a Conservative victory in the General Election bringing clarity and certainty to the BREXIT issue, appears to be leading many commentators to predict more growth across the same regions.

Savills are predicting a drop in London, but 3.0% growth in the West Midlands, 2.0% in Wales and 2.5% in Scotland, again justifying the position of our offices and our ‘boots on the ground’ policy.

We believe there’s no better way to understand a deal than to visit the property and listen to the developer explain their vision; it delivers a much better picture than figures on an application form.

Supplementing our offices, we have Relationship and Lending Managers in the other hotspots. Michelle Walsh covering the South West and South Wales, Alan Coats looking after the Scottish market, Andy Neo working the South and London and Nazia Yaqub ready to meet brokers across the Midlands.

But we are not a business to rest on its laurels and plans are already in place to recruit new Relationship and Lending Managers into the areas we expect to see significant market activity in the year ahead.

The North West is predicted to see more than 20% growth in property prices over the next 5 years, closely followed by Yorkshire & Humberside, the East Midlands, the North East and the West Midlands.

Signature has devised a strategy that is clearly working and we believe in a dispersed team, with talented individuals rooted in their regions, exploiting their experience and local knowledge for the benefit of brokers seeking funding for their clients’ projects.

We have developed a high performing team and will add to it soon, which can only help enhance the service we offer to our clients and help further enhance our reputation as a business that works hard to get deals done.