Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market Saw An Unpredicted Late 2016 Boost of 28%

Well, it doesn’t seem like two minutes ago that it was Christmas – and now it’s all over! One cold December morning, after arranging the office’s Christmas cards I thought I would nip out for a quick festive coffee and over-priced mince pie at my favourite local coffee shop the Fine Grind Espresso Bar.  I met an old client of mine in the coffee shop and we got talking about the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market. I had just completed my research for my next blog article and I would like to share with you the parts of the conversation relating to the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market.

He asked me what my thoughts were about the last half of the year in regard to the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market and if there were any great buy to let deals around. In reply I said that, in my view, shrugging off the uncertainty of the initial post Brexit vote, I have seen an increase in supply and a rise in the number of properties selling at the lower to middle end of the market, meaning both first time buyers and buy to let landlords have been returning in the last few months – proof the market is beginning to bounce back.

So let’s look at the numbers ..

In November 2016, according to the three main property portals (Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket) there were a total of 547 properties for sale in Royal Tunbridge Wells (within 3 miles of the centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells to be exact). In November 2015, there were only 426 properties for sale, a rise of 28%.

When I split it down into bedrooms (note things like building plots and part commercial/part residential etc won’t be in these figures so the numbers below wont exactly match up to those in the above paragraph).

	# Properties on the market in Nov 2015	# Properties on the market in Nov 2016	Per cent Change
5+ Bedrooms	59	83	+41%
4 Bedrooms	76	121	+59%
3 Bedrooms	113	125	+11%
2 Bedrooms	128	162	+27%
1 Bedroom	45	50	+11%

.. and when I looked at type of properties  .. it got even more interesting

Type of Property	# Properties on the market in Nov 2015	# Properties on the market in Nov 2016	Per cent Change
Detached	121	149	+23%
Semi	78	115	+47%
Terraced	33	42	+27%
Flat	152	198	+30%

As the number of Royal Tunbridge Wells properties put up for sale has soared by 28%, homeowners have become more realistic about how much their homes are worth. This increase in homeowners wanting to sell suggests there is renewed confidence in the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market and there are also signs that people are being more realistic about pricing their property.

As you can see, there has been a significant uplift in flats and semi-detached properties, which means there is greater choice for first time buyers and landlords. So with a combination of realistic pricing and more properties on the market – both first time buyers and landlords alike might be able to pick up a few bargains!