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What estate agents report in: Portadown, Norfolk and Anglesey

Each month we visit three agents from the Guild of Property Professionals across the country to discover what is happening in their local market.

The Negotiator
PORTADOWN, NORTHERN IRELAND
Link to Regional Report estate agent

STATS: Average rent: £611 pcm Average Sale: £89,827 Average Sale agreed Time: 25 days

 

Link to Regional Report estate agentArt O’Hagan, Managing Director, CPS Property

Winners of The Negotiator Awards 2019, Gold Award for Regional – Northern Ireland, CPS is an estate agency with branches across the province and is a member of RICS. Northern Ireland appears to be performing strongly in comparison to the rest of the UK, but CPS figures reflect a recent dip in surveyor confidence.

The RICS suggests that the housing market is showing increasing signs of the impact of ongoing political uncertainty However, new instructions are selling – if priced properly to sell – and first-time buyers in new developments are the most buoyant in the market. The results point to a slight slump in current activity, as new buyer enquiries and new instructions both took a downturn in March. RICS has said that it now expects the rate of home sales in the coming three months to drop. The report concluded that “Commentary from survey respondents noted a perceived ‘wait and see’ approach amongst both prospective buyers and sellers, as we remain without a definitive Brexit outcome”.

Art says, “Conservative lending has been paramount in the stable market in Northern Ireland, essential to ensure it continues to grow in a measured format, not over-heating is healthy”.

CHALLENGES

The RICS Northern Ireland spokesperson, Samuel Dickey, said, “While the results do paint a challenging picture for the NI residential market, comments from surveyors are pointing towards an incoming increase in first-time buyer properties. This group may welcome the easing rise in house prices and contribute to the positive longer-term outlook. Overall, the market remains relatively strong despite the headwinds and uncertainty of Brexit.”

Ulster Bank’s head of personal banking, Terry Robb, said, “Some people are perhaps taking a wait and see approach before deciding upon a move or purchase, but sales in the new build market in particular are currently quite strong and this is reflected in a steady demand for mortgages and with an increasing supply of new build properties reported to be coming onto the market, this also bodes well for first time buyer activity in the months ahead”.

Pictured property: Apartment in Gosford Castle, sold for £220,000.

THETFORD, NORFOLK
Link to Regional Report estate agent

STATS: Properties instructed that will agree a sale: 77% Average fee on exchange : 1.93% ‘Detailed views’ per property, per day on Rightmove: 97

 

Link to Regional ReportAndrew Overman – Senior Manager, Chilterns Estate Agent

Chilterns is an independent estate agency founded in 1999 by Directors Yannis Prodromou, Neil Pettit and Andrew Baker, serving Norfolk and Suffolk from offices located in Thetford, Brandon and Mildenhall. I have been part of the senior management structure within the business for over a decade.

In my time at Chilterns I have been able to fully immerse myself into the community, attending and supporting many community events, more recently partnering with Thetford Town Council, to increase brand awareness.

I am a strong believer in the ‘digital’ age and actively exploit social media marketing across several platforms – with regular video market updates, community links and ‘property of the week’ videos, in an attempt to be the ‘go to’ agent locally.

Statistically my office will ‘sale agree’ almost 8 in 10 properties we list, we enjoy the best success rates, shortest time on market and highest portal views locally with our average fee at 1.93%.

MARKET CHALLENGES

There’s no doubt in my mind that the landscape of the 2019 market is very different to that of 2018, we have seen a ‘cooling’ of prices locally but the lack of property coming to market has helped with price stability. The average time on market has doubled and transaction lengths have also increased from 9½ weeks to around 13 weeks, causing pipelines to ‘bulge’.

With a large Eastern European population, many whom favour renting over purchase, demand for rental accommodation is strong and we have seen rent increases – even before the Tenant Fee Ban.

OUR AREA

Thetford is cheaper in pricing terms than the neighbouring towns of Attleborough, Bury St Edmunds and Diss, which means it is an attractive proposition for buyers. There are approximately 11,000 residential dwellings and a population of circa 27,000 but over the next 15 years, there are 5000 new homes being built to the north of the town (together with a new business centre and three new primary schools) which will increase the town’s size by almost 50%. Great news for a hungry estate agent!

Pictured property: Anderbeek, Water Lane, Barnham: £325,000

ANGLESEY, NORTH WALES
Link to Regional Report estate agent

STATS: Average Sale Price: £208,000 – sales Average Sale Price: £148,000 – auctions Average Let Price: £619 (up 4.19%) Average Fee: not as much as we are worth!

 

Link to Regional ReportMelfyn Williams, Williams & Goodman

The property market in Anglesey remains relatively good with the last quarter showing that more first-time buyers are re-entering the sales market – and filling the gap caused by a lack of investors.

Correctly priced property is attracting good interest and selling quickly, to the point where we need more stock to replenish our list of available properties for sale.

Our auctions, which we hold every eight weeks or so, remain strong with an 87 per cent success rate.

The typical average price per acre for agricultural land is now regularly exceeding £10,000 per acre (with one small parcel attracting a top bid of just under £60,000 an acre at a recent auction).

We cover the counties of the Isle of Anglesey and Gwynedd on the whole, although we do expand through North Wales with our auction brand All Wales Auction.

What is great about our area is the diverse range of property – from a terrace in town to a country mansion or as with this month an island being placed on the market.

PROPERTY PROFESSIONALS

Our team comprises all Propertymark NAEA/ARLA & Guild of Property Professionals (or above) qualified (newer staff working towards qualifications) and this, coupled with a vast amount of experience, has delivered a service that has made us the ‘go-to’ agent for sellers with properties that may have “issues” in addition to the standard property sales that are so invaluable to us. We just love helping people move.

OUR AREA

With offices in Holyhead and Llangefni on Anglesey and then Bangor and Caernarfon on the mainland we’ve got the area covered.

Pictured property: Trearddur Bay, Anglesey £725,000

August 30, 2019

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