How much does a bedroom cost in Chichester?

Many first-time buyers will start out with a small ‘starter’ home, which is both suited to their needs and matches their modest earnings at the beginning of their careers. But as you get older there’s a tendency for extra possessions to pile up and for extra people to emerge in your life! This made me think; how much is a bedroom in Chichester and how much does it cost to climb the property ladder?

Let’s start with a one-bedroom property (typically a flat). The average price for one of these in Chichester is £200,000. As many will appreciate, the first step is often the hardest and that’s no exception when it comes to buying a property. The income and deposit you’ll require to afford even the most modest of homes in Chichester is probably the greatest barrier to getting on the property market.

Once you do though, and you hopefully rise through the ranks in your chosen career whilst growing your nest, the increase in price to afford an extra bedroom becomes a little easier at each rung of the ladder (in percentage terms).

The average two-bedroom property in Chichester will cost you £320,000 - a premium of £120,000 (60%) compared to a one-bedroom home.

The average three-bedroom property in Chichester will cost you £450,000 - a premium of £130,000 (41%) compared to a two-bedroom home.

The average four-bedroom property in Chichester will cost you £625,000 - a premium of £175,000 (39%) compared to a three-bedroom home.

Of course, this price increase isn’t just for an extra ‘bedroom’. As the number of bedrooms grow, so should the size of the other rooms throughout the house, as well as the outside space and amenities e.g. garden/garage/driveway.

It does however demonstrate that it’s the first couple of steps that are the toughest on the property ladder, which is why it’s common that government policies and incentives focus primarily on first-time buyers. Having said that, bear in mind that the need for an additional bedroom affects the ‘upsizers’ at a time when the financial strain (a new child being the most common) is often at its greatest.

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BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 2 bed house in Chichester, £300,000, 5.0% yield

Summary

2 bed house in Chichester

Listed for sale on 08/08/24 @ £315,000

Now = £300,000

Rent = £1,250pcm

Yield = 5.0%

Last sold for £250,000 in February 2020 (+20% in 4 years)

The property is on the market with White & Brooks and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/151118822

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Buy-to-let: home or away

Opinions are divided over whether you should invest in buy-to-let locally or venture further afield in an attempt to achieve better returns.

The area you invest in should be considered alongside your strategy and goals. Certainly if you’re looking to invest in student lets you’ll want to buy near a large, vibrant and growing University. Budget may also be a factor, whereby local house prices are simply too high for you to buy an appropriate property. Many Londoners have to buy outside the city because of this, although many will now rue missing out on the spectacular capital growth London property has seen.

When I began investing in property I spent a long time deliberating on where I should buy. Trying to find the next up and coming area to invest in that offered the holy grail of high yields and strong future capital growth appeared elusive. In the property boom years I researched city centre apartments up North as well as foreign property in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Florida and Las Vegas.

Whilst the glossy brochures promised quick riches, ultimately I decided that the grass wasn’t actually greener elsewhere. There are in fact many reasons why I believe you should keep it simple and invest close to home.

Familiarity is often the biggest reason why many landlords buy locally. You’ll know where the best areas are, which are the decent schools and the good transport links, along with a knowledge of the upcoming developments that will impact the area. 

You could spend time walking the streets and meeting with local agents. Nothing beats face-to-face contact and building rapport with people who can advise and support you. It’s easier to spend more time in a local area so you can work out the facts as opposed to relying on third party information.

It is obviously far more convenient to manage a buy-to-let close to home. Whether that be overseeing a refurbishment, the on-going maintenance or managing tenants. Having a property nearby saves a lot of time and this is perhaps why over 50% of landlords choose to buy within 10 miles of where they live.

Buying locally might mean you decide to self-manage the property and therefore save yourself the letting agent’s management fees. Even if you do hand the keys over to an agent, there’s certainly some peace of mind knowing the property is within easy reach should something go wrong or you simply want to keep an eye on things.

If you’re thinking of investing in buy-to-let and would like some free advice about whether your local area can meet your needs, please get in touch.

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BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Chichester, £395,000, 4.9% yield

Summary

3 bed house in Chichester

Listed for sale on 01/05/24 @ £500,000

Now = £395,000

Rent = £1,600pcm

Yield = 4.9%

The property is on the market with Purplebricks and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147512519

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Is September the best month to sell your property?

September is often seen as a good time to sell property as buyers have come back from their summer holidays, the children have gone back to school and people are now looking to get moved by Christmas.

By looking at a monthly breakdown of property sales in the UK for 2022 & 2023, we can determine whether this is in fact true and which months are actually busiest for estate agents.

Here’s the month-by-month property sales in the UK for 2022 & 2023:

So, in both 2022 & 2023, it was August that had the most property sales. This goes against all common understanding that the market goes quiet in August as people are on holiday and have the kids to contend with!

Bear in mind though that these figures (from Land Registry) are when a property sale is completed, rather than when it is first agreed between buyer and seller. With the legal process normally taking several months, we can conclude that the highest number of sales are actually agreed around May / June.

Having looked at the figures across a number of years, I can confirm that the above pattern is typical of how the market flows throughout the year. Things start off slow and build momentum as the year progresses, peaking in late Summer, before tailing off again into the darker, colder months. 

In fact, the number of sales roughly follows the amount of daylight we have, albeit lagging this by a couple of months i.e. there are more viewings and sales agreed when there are more daylight hours, with a couple of months for the paperwork to go through before the transaction completes and shows up as a ‘sale’ on the Land Registry. The only outlier to this is March, which can be explained as a result of more people suddenly looking for a fresh start in January. 

As a side note, the totals above show there were 726,940 sales in the whole of 2023, which was a massive 39% lower than in 2022, when 1,008,616 properties were sold in the UK. Worryingly, things have slowed down even further at the start of 2024, with there being 24% fewer sales registered in the first third of the year compared to the same period twelve months prior.

Looking back at the chart though, the volume of sales is actually quite steady throughout the year, rather than having wild ups and downs like some people think. What this ultimately means is that there is not really a ‘best’ time to sell; the best time is surely when it fits your circumstances. So, you should be content to know that, if correctly priced, your property will sell regardless of when it is listed throughout the year.

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BUY-TO-LET DEAL OF THE WEEK: 3 bed house in Fishbourne, £285,000, 5.5% yield

Summary

3 bed house in Fishbourne

Listed for sale on 19/08/24 @ £285,000

Rent = £1,300pcm

Yield = 5.5%

Last sold for £199,950 in 2013 (+43% in 11 years)

The property is on the market with Charles Peck and full details can be found on Rightmove via the following link: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/151490810

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Is a ground floor flat a good buy?

 

Which floor a flat is on is an important factor when deciding what to buy (or rent). Some are ardent in their opinion that an upper-floor flat is the only way to go, whilst others can see plenty of benefits in keeping your feet on the ground. Typically, top floor flats have achieved a premium price over their ground floor counterparts, but is this justified?

Many will say it is and that flats on the ground floor represent both a privacy and security risk. In theory that is true; people walking past will be able to see into a ground floor flat rather than one higher up. And it’s easier to hop through an open window or break the glass of one on the ground floor than if you’d need a ladder to do so. But the same could be said for any house that isn’t built on stilts, so that logic doesn’t really cut the mustard in my opinion.

Certainly the view can be better in a flat on a higher floor and they tend to be brighter too. Plus, heat rises, so they are often easier and cheaper to heat in the Winter. I think there’s still something of a ‘status’ about being higher up in the sky though (think top floor penthouses), which largely clouds people’s opinions on the matter. Having said that, there’s definitely something to be said for only having neighbours below you, compared to ground floor flats, which in a poorly insulated building can mean hearing ‘footsteps on the ceiling’.

Ground floor flats though make perfect sense for those wishing to avoid the stairs. Whilst many immediately think of the elderly in this regard, the benefit is also there for young families with pushchairs and people with mobility issues. They’re also easier to evacuate for the safety conscious and you won’t have to worry about leaking roofs (although they’re the first ones to feel the impact of rising damp or drainage problems).

But the real bonus of having a ground floor flat is that many come with their own private garden or direct access to communal grounds. Apart from the obvious benefit this provides, which came to the fore as we were stuck at home during the pandemic, it can also make ground floor flats suitable for pet owners compared to their more penned-in upper-floor flat counterparts (although you’ll need to check the head lease to ensure pets are allowed at all).

I have long argued that houses are more popular than flats with both owner-occupiers and tenants. This is because they come with their own entrance, private outdoor space and, normally, better parking. But I’ve visited many ground floor flats that also come with these benefits and it’s not surprising that demand for these are holding up noticeably better at the moment compared to flats without these bonuses.

So for me, a ground floor flat that provides access onto its own outdoor space could be a winner; particularly with an aging population that values their own private space. This is a good way of getting many of the benefits associated with a house, but with a lower price tag.

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