Chichester Property News: Have the Christmas sales come early for Chichester’s tenants?

Thursday 13 December 2018

Have the Christmas sales come early for Chichester’s tenants?

Here’s a note to anyone looking in Chichester for a property to rent - there’s some bargains to be had! December is traditionally a quieter time of year in the lettings market, but this year seems worse than any I can remember.

As I type, in the past two weeks 60 properties have come to the rental market and only 8 have let! Ordinarily I’d hope to have a property let agreed within a fortnight (I’ve seen leaflets from an agent who offers to do the job for ‘free’ if they don’t) - but barely anything seems to be letting right now.

Those that have let have mostly done so due to generous price reductions - for example there’s a pleasant two-bedroom house on Arundel Park with a garage that has let for £775pcm…whereas another around the corner is on at £850pcm and earlier this year I let a similar property for £925pcm.

Average prices are dropping on the whole - most notably amongst the two-bedroom houses, which currently average ‘just’ £900pcm. That’s the lowest they’ve been since February 2016 and is bizarrely cheaper than the average two bed flat (£975pcm). I suspect this is just a temporary blip as a number of ‘cheaper’ two-bedroom houses have come to the market at the same time - the problem is that this has an impact on the chances of letting a more ‘premium’ property at it’s normal price.

On top of the price drops are further incentives, including half-price rent for the first month if you move in before Christmas, or discounted administration fees (the fact these are due to disappear next year means agents should get used to this loss of income). Offers such as these seem to be more prevalent this year than I’ve noticed before and it’s become something of a ‘race to the bottom’ if you don’t get involved in the discounting, as tenants become ever-more price sensitive.

For tenants on the hunt there’s the cheapest two-bedroom flat in Chichester I’ve seen for a long time - available at £650pcm…and it’s quite nice inside! There’s a three-bedroom flat on for £695pcm, complete with half price rent in month one. There are several three-bedroom houses available for less than £1,000pcm and one in Somerstown that’s been on for months; originally for £1,200pcm (whilst at the same time I let one for £1,100pcm) which has now been reduced to £1,100pcm, with the caveat of being ‘open to offers’.

I myself have got 3 three-bedroom houses available to let - yet only 3 out of the 25 three-bed houses to have come to the market throughout Chichester in the last month have actually let, which makes life rather difficult! So, if you’re in the market for a property to rent in Chichester, get in touch and you might just find yourself a Christmas bargain.

(This article was featured in the Chichester Observer's property section on December 13, 2018)

Clive Janes, CRJ Lettings

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