The Gravesend property market - compared to Dartford and Rochester

Knowledge is half the battle when deciding what (or not) to buy for your next property investment, because if you know something about the past, or what's happening now, it may help you anticipate the future.

A good guide to judge a property is the number of properties for sale, compared to the number that has been sold, subject to contract. When doing our research, we found in Gravesend around 235 properties available for sale and an additional 547 sold subject to contract – 70% of owners of property in the Gravesend area have a buyer, STC.

In Dartford, there are 149 properties available with an additional 563 properties having sales agreed on them – 79%! However, in Rochester, it’s a bit of a different story.  Of the 640 properties on the market, only 403 have buyers, just 63% are sold subject to contract.

Delving deeper into the Gravesend market, some sectors are doing better than others. Of the 196 flats on the market, just over half (111) have buyers. Of the 595 houses on the market, three quarters (446) have buyers. Deeper still, three bedroom semi-detached houses in Gravesend, over three quarters (78% to be precise) have buyers. As a comparison, the four beds have 70% of buyers and 85% of two bedroom houses also have a buyer. It would seem Gravesend is a popular place for purchasers at the moment – perhaps due to the recently announced Ebbsfleet Garden City?

For free advice on anything to do with the property sector, call us on 01474 833050/01322 860500, email us here, or visit our website here. Don’t forget, you’re always welcome in our offices for a cheeky cuppa.

Redress schemes and what they mean for you

Newly released figures from popular redress scheme The Property Ombudsman show that communication failure was the highest reported issue with Letting Agents during 2013 with a whopping 23% (closely followed by duty of care with 17% and reports & maintenance with 9%).

When an Agent is ARLA regulated, they are required to be a member of a formal redress scheme. This gives Landlords and Tenants a way to further progress their complaint if they are unsatisfied with the Agent’s findings, ore have not had a response from the Agent at all. It gives Landlords and Tenants greater security over grievances, and shows the Agent is certain to try and provide you with an exceptional service.

News released yesterday have given the go ahead to make it mandatory for all letting agents to join a redress scheme, as estate agents must, to give greater peace of mind to consumers.

Enquiries to TPO rose 23% in 2013 from 2012. This is a worrying figure as it seems to be showing a communication breakdown between Landlords and Agents, and that perhaps some Agents are not investigating any issues as thoroughly as they should. At River and Country, you have a direct point of contact with Lettings and Property Management at all times who can respond to complaints, and an easy to follow procedure.

When choosing an Agent, you should be asking the question, “are you ARLA regulated?”; and if they are, they will be members of TPO. The TPO is free to use for Landlords and Tenants.

Have you had a problem with a Letting Agent in the past? Or are having one now and want some advice on how to tackle the situation? Our team are local experts and are fully ARLA, NAEA and APIP qualified. Call us for friendly advice on 01474 833050, email us here or visit our website here.

P.S. Have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend.

Gravesend terraced houses to rent - is Lynton Road South a good buy?

We've recently sold a mid-terraced house on Lynton Road South, a property where we were invited to give both a rental and a sales valuation. The owner decided to sell for personal reasons and it was sold to a first time buyer, so no chance of it coming on for rent (sadly). It got me thinking – it’s a fairly tucked away road and I couldn't remember the last time I’d seen something come up for rent down there, so I carried out some investigating on the road.

Lynton Road South is predominantly made up of terraced houses (not taking into account Lynton Court tucked away), but that, according to local sources, are all totally different.  According to my research, there are 45 properties on the road and the average price of a property on Lynton Road South is £181,318. Quite interestingly, since 2001, nearly half of the properties have changed hands (21 in all), which isn't too bad over a period of 13 years, though out of these 21 properties, they have been sold 38 times in the 13 years. The average rent achieved over the last 3 years in the close vicinity is £750.00 per month, giving a yield of 4.1%, much higher than the average yield for the whole DA11 postcode which is just 3.5%. This is where it's important to compare like for like. You see, the average price of a terraced in the DA11 postcode is actually £220,180, much higher than the average of Lynton which is above, hence the lower yield.

Even more interesting, is that despite the average figures for the road, our house sold for much more than the average shown above, and it was valued for rent much higher than the average for Lynton Road South. This shows how popular the road is (and how swiftly the market is moving), if the only data available is out of date! Judging by what we sold & valued the property for, the yield would be 4.3% - so a better investment today than the average prices are telling us.

It really comes down to what is available to buy on the day, and how much a hard bargain you drive on the purchase price. Always get the best advice and opinion you can. Speak to us, speak to others, do your homework and negotiate the price, as that’s the figure which will determine your yield and return.

Remember, you’re always welcome to pop into either our Southfleet or Sutton-at-Hone offices for a cuppa and a chat, or call us on 01474 833050. You can also email us here or visit our website here.

How affordable is Gravesend & local property?

A landlord came in to our office earlier this week to discuss the affordability of property in Gravesend,with the national property market being in recovery with increasing house prices and rapid sales (9.5% in a year - amazing). The best advice I can give to those looking to invest in property is our secret trick of the trade. You can judge the affordability of a town by simply finding the ratio of the average property price to the average salary. The lower the ratio, the more affordable property is.

When we put this to the test, we found that Gravesend currently has an average property value of around £249,660 with the average salary being £33,250. This is a respectable ratio of 1 to 7.5. Meanwhile in Rochester the ratio of property values to salary is 1 to 7.7, which suggests the property in the town is only slightly less affordable than in Gravesend. We also had a look at Dartford and found the average salary is £32,500 and the average property value is £235,900. This means that property in Dartford is only slightly more affordable than both Gravesend and Rochester, with a ratio of 1 to 7.2.

This could mean, surprisingly, that now is a brilliant time to invest in Dartford’s property market, while the average value of property is low compared to the average salary. If you would like to talk to us about your potential investment, please call our sales team on 01322 860500 or our lettings team on 01474 833050, visit our website here or email me here.