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Regional report

Each month we visit three agents across the country to discover what is happening in their local market. This month we meet members of The Guild of Property Professionals in Nottinghamshire, Norfolk and South West London.

The Negotiator
BRIDGFORD, NOTTINGHAM

Val Shakespeare, Royston & Lund, imageVal Shakespeare, Director
Royston & Lund

Royston and Lund is an independent, award winning property specialist based in West Bridgford, Nottingham. We are passionate about the service we offer and are proud to employ the most experienced and professional group of people in the area.

Bridgford, Nottingham, property image

We are finding that demand for local housing stock is still outstripping supply as stock levels remain low. The main issues affecting us are a definite lack of confidence in the market along with lack of stock. The top end of the market is moving well, particularly in certain sought-after roads and we are even experiencing several sealed bid scenarios – which often go on to exceed asking prices by significant amounts.

There are a number of new developments which are local to us and although we are not finding that this it is currently affecting our market, we feel that there is the potential for competition as more people consider buying a new build off-plan rather than a second-hand house on a modern established estate. However, on the plus side, the new developments will generate second-hand homes. These developments will add up to more than 5000 new homes being built over the next few years, so we’ll see more local stock coming to the market with people upsizing, downsizing or moving for schools or work reasons.

There seems to be an increasing number of sellers not wishing to market their property until they have found something to move to; the competition for these particular buyers is tough as they are competing against people in rented properties and first time buyers. Given that we would encourage these buyers to go all out to try and sell, we have had several instances where we have marketed their property at short notice but they have then lost out to an applicant who was not in a chain.

We are one of twelve agents within a one-mile radius, so the competition remains tough; as a result of this we have seen three of the smaller agents close in the last 12 months. We remain at the top of our game as market leaders, demonstrating first class service to sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants.

West Bridgford and the surrounding areas make up some of the most sought-after parts of Nottinghamshire, so we find that whatever happens in the market nationally, we have our own micro-climate which continues to thrive.

DISS AND HARLESTON, NORFOLK

Kevin Parson, Parson Estate Agents, imageKevin Parson, Director and Owner
Parson Estate Agents

In the first three quarters of 2017, we have enjoyed a strong market continuing in both in sales and lettings after a really buoyant year in 2016 which created the strongest price property growth – 16.2 per cent – in Diss, Norfolk for the whole of Great Britain, according to Zoopla, giving an average price of £306,000.

Diss and Harleston, Norfolk, property image

As a region, prices in East Anglia rose by 11.6 per cent. How did that happen? It’s mainly due to continuing high demand for homes in the centre of East Anglia, which is attractive to many homebuyers as it has an excellent mainline railway service into London Liverpool Street.

We haven’t though, seen the price increases of last year rather, a consolidation and, to some extent there has been a price correction. The market now appears to be price sensitive and correct pricing is essential to achieve a timely sale. Whilst numbers of applicants are down year on year and with a higher proportion of buyers being dependant on sale, there remains a high demand for the correctly priced homes coming to the market.

Of course, as ever, the lower to middle range, up to about £400,000 is extremely active and it creates the largest number of buyer registrations. Interestingly, in the upper ranges, whilst there are fewer buyers in the market, they are generally in a position to proceed and we are achieving sales in a relatively short time.

I am pretty sure that this is due to our superb professional photography and innovative marketing.

The rental market has seen increasing rents this year, due to the high demand for property and the limited supply coming to the market. I think this is the case in many with regions, as the number of new landlords coming into the market has dramatically reduced – and that is largely due to the punitive government regime of loading landlords with additional and unnecessary burdens of taxation in both purchase and letting.

Parson Estate Agent is a family run business which has been trading for 15 years and prides itself on innovative, modern and up to date marketing, coupled with good old fashioned, honest advice. As one of the most renowned agents in the area, we handle all aspects of lettings and sales and at all levels.

FULHAM, SOUTH WEST LONDON

Charles Eddlestone, Fine & Country, imageCharles Eddlestone, Sales and Lettings Manager
Fine & Country

At Fine and Country in Fulham, South West London, we specialise in targeting the upper quartile properties in our local area which extends to the equally popular areas of Chelsea and Battersea.

Fulham, South West London, property image

The houses in Fulham generally sell for between £1.3m and £4m, for the larger houses in the premier streets. Apartment prices range from £500,000 for one bedroom to £1.25m for three to four bedroom apartments. However, in the new build market this figure tends to distort where an average one bedroom apartment is around £700,000 and a four bedroom apartment can sell for in excess of £9m.

The Fulham property market is at a turning point after 18 months with a downward spiral in house prices. This is because the previous eight years had brought double digit growth year on year, therefore property prices had become hugely over-inflated.

Now we are seeing the turning point where prices have levelled off, so, we can see that buyers and sellers are beginning to contemplate moving once more.

Brexit is still having a negative impact as Fulham has a particularly international market with home buyers coming from France, Spain and America. All of these residents are waiting with bated breath to see what effect Brexit will have on their residency status. Once the Brexit arrangements have been confirmed, we expect that this will create a flurry of activity as buyers and sellers look to take advantage of the lower than average prices.

 

November 7, 2017

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