Category: Chamberlains Blog

New research appears to confirm what many agents have thought for a long time – many prospective buyers take only five minutes during a viewing before deciding to put in an offer and try to purchase the property.

Research involving a survey of 1,000 buyers conducted for the developer Harron Homes found that some 43.1 per cent decide whether a house is or isn’t for them within the first five minutes of a viewing.

The research also lists what turns buyers on – or off – to a property at three different stages – looking online, seeing the property in person from outside, and then viewing the inside.

In terms of online surfing the research says:

– the biggest turn-off is if a listing does not have any pictures or has only low quality photos;

– 46.2 per cent said it was a problem if there was no floor plan online;

– 43.2 per cent said they wanted to see images of every room.

At external viewing stage:

– the research indicates realising upon arrival that there is no parking is a major issue for just over half of respondents;

– sharing of a driveway or garden is another deterrent for over 30 per cent;

– old-fashioned exterior walls such as pebbledash are also a turn off for over a fifth of would-be buyers.

The interior viewing:

– over 50 per cent reported that seeing or smelling damp is the most off-putting problem at this stage;

– the smell of pets can be similarly off-putting

– outdated interior features such as artex ceilings are unappealing;

– noise, a lack of storage, clutter and outdated fittings are also a turn-off to many.

Other complaints about problems during viewings include being pursued too closely around the house, seeing unprepared rooms or gardens which have not been tidied, or anything that could be described as dirty.

Lords of the manor rarely live in their ancestral homes these days, vicars have largely been dispossessed of their vicarages and ‘serfs’ no longer call cottages home, but the feudal property pecking order is alive and well.

The average price of a manor house is £2,102,344 – 11 times higher than the national average. This is nearly double the average sale price of the next most expensive quintessentially English home, the farmhouse, with an average sale price of £1,089,857. The least expensive of these quintessentially English homes is the cottage.

However, on a square footage basis cottages, with their typically cosy rooms, rustic beams and quaint features, do not offer the best value for money. The stereotypically roomier barn conversion and old rectory come in at around £288 per square foot and £234 per square foot on average respectively. Cottages are more expensive on this basis, at £320 per square foot.

Farmhouses come somewhere in the middle of the feudal pecking order and are the next most expensive home after the archetypal manor house. While manor houses are on average over £1 million more expensive than a farmhouse, manor houses offer better value for money on a price per square foot basis (£343 per square foot) due to their sweeping, spacious rooms.

For buyers looking for bang for their buck when it comes to space, manor houses look like an attractive option, particularly as the average price per square foot (£343) is just £23 more than a chocolate box cottage (£320)!

Barn conversions are a significant £378,066 less expensive than old rectories – that’s more than the average sale price of a typical UK property. However, on a price per square footage basis old rectories offer better value. Barn conversions with their generally large open-plan entertaining spaces fit in well with modern lifestyles and dinner party culture – which is reflected in the square footage premium they attract.

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The latest figures extracted from Nationwide’s house price index have shown that in June annual house price growth increased to 5.1% – a slight improvement on the 4.7% seen during May.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: “It has become difficult to gauge the underlying pace of demand in recent months, due to the surge in house purchase activity in March ahead of the introduction of Stamp Duty on second homes.

It will therefore be difficult to assess how much of the likely fall back in transactions in the quarters ahead is because buyers brought forward purchases to avoid additional Stamp Duty liabilities, and how much is due to increased economic uncertainty following the referendum result. Gauging the likely impact on house prices will be even more difficult.

Gardner added that it is too early to assess the impact of the referendum vote on the economy, “however, it is encouraging that the labour market had remained robust in recent months, with solid employment growth and the unemployment rate declining to an eleven-year low in April”.

Jeremy Leaf, former RICS chairman and north London estate agent, said: “The figures are surprisingly strong considering they are for the period post the stamp duty increase and pre the outcome of the Referendum.

They show that the market is more resilient than we might have expected. It shows that make-up of buyer interest was a mixture of investors who brought forward buying decisions as well as first-time buyers and existing home movers. The latter groups still see some value in the market and are taking advantage of very low interest rates.”

New Rightmove listings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were very slightly up compared with the same three days the previous week, the portal revealed.

The increase, of just 1.3%, reflecting pre-referendum instructions to agents from vendors.

Rightmove also said that it has yet to see any price reductions beyond the usual pattern.

Rightmove has however seen a rise in searches for property in Scotland.

However, a spokesperson stressed it was too early to see any real trends.

Well, the nation has spoken and we are leaving the European Union. The decision has been made and now we have to deal with the consequences, whatever they may be. We are lucky living where we do that people always want to move to the area, so if you are wondering what will happen and whether you should move or not our advice would be to get on with your plans, don’t wait around for something that may or may not happen. The market is the market and that affects the price you sell at as well as the price you buy. It’s all relative.

We are here to help you with your moving plans, you can browse all our properties by clicking on the relevant tabs above. If you have any queries or questions then please do get in touch with us mail@chamberlains.co or 01626 365055