HOW MUCH!?

April 24, 2016 by Rob Kahl

HOW MUCH? 

What fantastic news. A penthouse apartment in Leigh on Sea has recently gone on to the market for £2,500,000. This is yet another example of the popularity of our town and the calibre of the type of person interested in living here.

This fabulous property is on the top floor, has a lift, underground parking and obviously spectacular views. However, this may not be within everyone's budget, so what could you get for exactly a tenth of the price?

Well, in the block next door to Eden Point I have a top floor flat, which has a lift, underground parking and obviously spectacular views; 108 St Clements Court could be yours for £250,000. A bargain, I can hear you cry. Well hold on a minute, it gets even better.

If you were to buy the penthouse at Eden Point then your stamp duty bill would be a whopping £213,750. If you wanted to buy my one instead, then the bill would be £2,500 saving an impressive £211,250. Order the new Ferrari now!

So, what if you were lucky enough to have £2,500,000 to spend? Why not buy mine to live in and then 9 more to rent out? We could rent them out for you at £825 a month each earning you a very tidy income of £89,100 per year! Now obviously my tongue is firmly in my cheek. The people viewing and interested in purchasing the penthouse apartment are not going to be interested in my smaller 2 bedroom flat at the top of St Clements Court but it does raise the question of values. Is anything really worth £2,500,000 in Leigh on Sea and can prices keep on rising? As ever it all boils down to supply and demand.

I have always banged on about the fantastic facilities that Leigh in Sea has to offer and these all contribute to the increase in prices. But, so the saying goes, houses are only ever worth what somebody is prepared to pay for them.

Leigh has a fabulous Broadway with numerous shops & leisure facilities, excellent schools, the attraction of the seafront and an easy commute for those needing to work in London. We have also been highlighted as one of the best areas in the whole of the UK to live and an area of growth mentioned in numerous national surveys. There has to be a ceiling at some point though surely? Although, it does feel like I have been saying that for 20 years and whilst the area is as popular as ever and while there is always a shortage of properties on the market prices will continue to rise.

This may come as a bit of a surprise and you may not believe me but as agents we are not keen on prices rising too quickly. The majority of our fees are based on a percentage of the sales price but, it is normally such a small amount that getting 10% or 15% more on the value of the house may only be the difference in our fee of a few hundred pounds. We would always prefer volume of sales.

It also makes it extremely difficult to value properties accurately. One of the big attractions of our area is the diversity in the types of properties available. It is lovely having different types of properties from superb modern apartments such as Eden Point to charming 100 year old fisherman’s cottages and it makes for a much more interesting stock of homes available. That said, it means that there are often very few comparable properties which have sold to base appraisal figures upon.

There are also national trends that can affect house prices. Big things like a general election will mean people holding off to watch if anything changes in the housing market and obviously the EU referendum could affect things. We have had some legislation changes in regard to buy to let purchases regarding taxation and stamp duty that have had a large affect on the property market, people rushing ti purchase in order to save themselves some money.

Even things that you may not think have anything to do with the housing market can affect the amount of people looking. If England do well in Euro 2016 then people will be more interested in football than looking at buying a new house or even if we have a particularly sunny summer (heres hoping) then quite rightly potential purchasers will have far better things to do than traipse round new homes. Lots of things affect house prices but at the moment I can see no reason why they will not continue to rise. At least steadily for the foreseeable future.

This article is by Rob at Scott & Stapleton
Tel: 01702 471155 

To read Rob's previous proberty blogs, please click the following link https://www.leigh-on-sea.com/tag/listing/blog/property