the heatons property blog

• A quick analysis of sales volumes to date in 2018 indicates that in areas where sales have increased compared to the same period last year, on average virtually half of all properties have access to ultra-fast broadband, with an average download speed of 46.4mbps.
• In contrast, in those areas where sales have fallen, just under one third of properties have access to ultra-fast broadband and the average download speed is slightly lower at just 42.9mbps.
• While broadband coverage and speed may well not be the most important factors in choosing which home to buy, their impact on daily life is ever increasing. 89% of adults now use the internet each week, up from just 51% in 2006 (ONS), and a rising proportion of the population works from home for at least part of the week.
• Upgrade to Inform’s new local demographic pages for analysis of connectivity in your area and check our blog to find out more.

• A drop of more than a third of the average sole agency fee for a traditional estate agent in the UK, to 1.18% (plus VAT), since 2011 makes it among the cheapest prime location for agent fees in the world.
• Of the places analysed, only China and Hong Kong had lower seller-side fees at 0.5% and 1.0% respectively. Other countries with significantly higher seller fees including Mexico (7.5%), the USA (5.5%) and France (5%).
• The UK comes out as the cheapest location to buy in terms of estate agent fees when you consider the combined buying and selling commission fees (assuming no buying agent is used).
• A survey carried out by TheAdvisory of over 2,000 property sellers in England and Wales, which was reported by Prime Resi, also identified that 95% chose a traditional agent over a new online and hybrid agencies (often with ‘no sale no fee’) to sell their home.

• A property was sold somewhere across England and Wales every 9 seconds of working hours between January and July of this year.
• With 10 regions in the country, assuming an even distribution, this would equate to a property sale in every region within a minute and a half period. However, with regional differences including the number of available properties and volume of housing stock, there are variations.
• In the South East and North West, a property was sold during every working minute of the day.
• In the North East where fewer properties are sold than in other, more densely populated regions, there was still a sale every 3 minutes.

• There is little else more quintessentially British than the chocolate box cottage. Bringing up idyllic images of rambling roses framing the doorway, thatched roofs, exposed beams and open fires, an escape to a rural retreat is the aspiration of many.
• We have taken the opportunity during this National Chocolate Week to delve further into this market and the buyers who have made this dream their reality this year.
• So far in 2018, there have been 2,100 country cottages sold in rural locations across England and Wales. The South of the country dominates, with 46% of sales but a fifth were in the Midlands and 15% in the East. The remaining 19% were spread across the North, Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales.
• Unsurprisingly, buyers are prepared to pay a premium for a rural idyll. Chocolate box cottages sold this year for an average of £364 per square foot. This is 33% higher than the average price paid for all homes across rural locations.

• Just 35% of 25 to 34 year olds were homeowners in 2017, down from 55% twenty years ago. Only 60% of young adults with a 10% deposit and a loan based on an income multiplier of 4.5, can afford the cheapest properties in their local area according to a new report produced by the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
• Rising property prices, primarily prior to the financial crisis, compared to incomes have been the major factor in this change. Adjusting for inflation, average house prices in England have risen by 173% over the last twenty years, compared to real incomes of those aged 25 to 34 which have risen by just 19%.
• Regional disparity in house prices is far more acute than among incomes. Across London and the South East over 90% of young adults would need to save at least six months’ income for a 10% deposit on an average priced home in their area. This compares to under 60% across the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.
• The introduction of incentives such as Help to Buy, have undoubtedly proved beneficial for many first-time buyers. Nearly 170,000 have benefitted from a Help to Buy equity loan since its introduction in 2013. Similarly, over 69,000 first-time buyer households have saved on average £2,300 each thanks to the first-time buyer stamp duty tax relief announced in the 2017 Budget.

If you have ever sold your home, you will be all too familiar with the pressure to make the property look tip-top in time for a viewing. Your home must appeal to the most likely type of person to buy it, so it’s vital to understand a bit about the demand profile in your area. The chart above shows the demographic profile of our part of the world.