79.3% of Northampton Properties have 3 or more bedrooms – Problem or Opportunity?

The orthodox way of classifying property in the UK is to look at the number of bedrooms rather than its size in square metres (although now we are leaving the EU – I wonder if we can go back to feet and inches?). It seems that homeowners and tenants are happy to pay for more space. It’s quite obvious, the more bedrooms a house or apartment has, the bigger it is likely to be. The reason being not only the actual additional bedroom space, the but properties with more bedrooms tend to have larger / more reception (living) rooms. However, if you think about it, this isn’t so astonishing given that properties with more bedrooms would typically accommodate more people and therefore require larger reception rooms.

In a today’s Northampton property market, the Northampton homeowners and Northampton landlords I talk to are always asking me which attributes and features are likely to make their property comparatively more attractive and which ones may detract from the price. Over time, buyers’ and tenants’ wants and needs have changed. In Northampton, location is still the No. 1 factor affecting the value of property, and a property in the best neighbourhoods, say Abington, Wootton or East Hunsbury can command a price nearly 50% higher than a similar house in an ‘average’ area. However, after location, the next characteristic that has a significant influence on the desirability, and thus price, of property is the number of bedrooms and the type (i.e. Detached/ Semi/Terraced/Flat).

In previous articles, I have analysed the Northampton housing stock into bedrooms and type of property, but never before now have I cross-referenced type against bedrooms. These figures for the Northampton Borough Council area make fascinating reading. It shows 79.3% of all properties in the area have 3 or more bedrooms

	Detached	Semi-detached	Terraced (including end-terrace)	Flat
1 bedroom	36	115	121	712
2 bedrooms	371	2,200	4,012	2,420
3 bedrooms	3,333	8,972	10,831	489
4 bedrooms	6,884	2,132	2,134	73
5 or more bedrooms	1,829	634	1,073	42

I was genuinely surprised at the low numbers of one and two bed properties, especially 2 bed semis detached houses, especially as tenants like the smaller one and two bed properties in Northampton. You see, it might interest the homeowners and landlords of Northampton, that there has been a change in the numbers of properties on the market and the split in bedrooms on the market over the last 12 months

·         12 months ago, 88 one bed properties were for sale in Northampton, today 80, a drop of 9%
·         12 months ago, 340 two bed properties were for sale in Northampton, today 291, a drop of 14%
·         12 months ago, 414 three bed properties were for sale in Northampton, today 323, a drop of 22%
·         12 months ago, 265 four bed properties were for sale in Northampton, today 220, a drop of 17%
·         12 months ago, 102 five + bed properties were for sale in Northampton, today 82, a drop of 20%

This reduction in the number of properties on the market in Northampton goes against the national trend. This is because demand has remained strong and homeowners have been realistic with their pricing (unlike other parts of the country). This means as other parts of the UK’s property market has started to stale, Northampton’s has been quite buoyant and positive!

For several years Northampton buy-to-let investors have been the only buyers at the lower end (starter homes) of the market, as they have been enticed by high tenant demand and attractive returns. Some Northampton landlords believe their window of opportunity has started to close with the new tax regime for landlords, whilst it already appears to be opening wider for first-time buyers. This is great news for first time buyers as they aren’t in the so much competition when bidding for property.

However, one final note for Northampton landlords... all is not lost ... you can still pick up bargains, you just need to be a lot more savvy and do your homework... so why not have a chat with us at Northwood Northampton on 01604 607080.