To find
a bargain you need to know the market, yet there is not one single property market in the UK. In fact, the British property market is like a fly’s eye, it looks as if it is as one but in fact it is split into lots of fragmented pieces and the same
goes for the Loughborough property market - that too is split into different
patches. In fact, it can even come down to two streets adjacent to each other - one street selling like hot cakes for top dollar whilst the next street can
stick at comparatively lower prices. Factors such as a school catchment
boundary or differing postcode can play a huge part in this lottery.
According to Coutts, property values in ‘Prime London’ have
dropped by 14.7% in the last 5 years. Yet look closely at those stats and
Prime London is considered anything within a 1500m radius of Kensington High
Street above £4.6m – a totally different world to the average property in Loughborough,
which is worth just over £250,000 and has risen in value over those same 5
years by 28.4% - it's a completely different world!
I have noticed that the top end of the market above £500,000
in Loughborough, and the surrounding areas, is proving a little tougher to shift
than a few years ago yet this can’t all be blamed on Brexit as buyers have
long been flinching at overestimated asking prices and excessive stamp duty
rates.
In Loughborough, 16.6% of properties for sale have reduced their asking price in the last 3 months by
an average of 5.0%. A lot less than the reductions that are being seen in
central London. In fact, the property market in Loughborough is looking
reasonably good with 41.8% of properties on the market in Loughborough being shown as under offer and Sold subject to contract. Interesting when compared with the aforementioned London
Prime market where only 5.86% of the properties for sale are sold - some
bargains to be had there!
So, where are the bargains in Loughborough? Well, to start
with, it’s all about knowing the local Loughborough market. It’s all about
comparing and contrasting property, so to start with check out the property
web-portals such as Zoopla and Rightmove to see what’s for sale. The art here
is to click on the ‘include Sold stc’ in the filters, then arrange them in
price order. Then you will get a feel for what properties are roughly selling
for. Also look at recent sales, so in Rightmove click on ‘House Prices’ on the
main menu, on the proceeding drop down menu click on ‘Find Sold House prices’
and now you can type in a street, or even a street plus a certain distance for example 0.25miles/0.5miles. The click on ‘List View’ and they are in date order. There is a similar function in
Zoopla (feel free to contact me if you need a hand with that).
Then once you have found what you think is a bargain, view
it. Ask the agent why the sellers are moving.
By doing your research on the seller, seeing how long it has been on the
market, whether they have reduced the asking price (if you ask an agent they
have to tell you and by how much) you could
cut a better deal if they are compelled to sell. Push home your advantage i.e.
if you are a first-time buyer; don’t have any property to sell in order to complete; are chain free or a cash purchaser, it can all make a difference.
Looking at the numbers above, some savvy Loughborough
landlords and home buyers are taking advantage of the doom and gloom newspaper
headlines as property owners’ expectations are probably at the lowest they have
ever been since the Credit Crunch, especially if they are in the ‘got to sell’
category instead of the ‘would like to sell’ category.
Like anything in life buying a property bargain comes
down to putting the hard work in, doing your homework and jumping at
opportunities. If you would like to discuss the Loughborough property market or chat about any potential investment or purchase, please feel free to call us on 01509 260777 or email me.
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