Wednesday 18 September 2019

Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market Update Summer 2019

The foundations of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market over the summer have continued to be principally sound; yet the existing political macroclimate means that the critical element of consumer confidence has been reduced and that is triggering some potential Royal Tunbridge Wells property buyers and Royal Tunbridge Wells house sellers to falter slightly and hang fire making any firm decisions on property.

With record low interest rates at 0.75%, low unemployment rates of 3.8%, and decent mortgage availability (even those with low deposits - there were 224 mortgage deals available on the day of writing this article where only a 5% deposit was required and 5 main stream lenders that would offer 100% no deposit mortgages), Royal Tunbridge Wells buyers have a lot going in their favour, aside from the perceived political uncertainty. 

Interestingly, Rightmove have stated there are more properties for sale today in the Country, than at any time since 2016, and Royal Tunbridge Wells follows that trend. Even with that in mind, property values have remained reasonably stable as The Land Registry has just released its House Price Index for Royal Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding locality and it makes very interesting reading.

Overall, property values in the Royal Tunbridge Wells area are 3% lower than a year ago as the average property value in Royal Tunbridge Wells now stands at £493,900.

When I looked at the types of Royal Tunbridge Wells’ properties, a slightly different picture appeared ..

·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Detached homes dropped by 2.3%
·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Semi-detached homes dropped by 2.2% 
·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Terraced/Town-House dropped by 2.8%
·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Flats/Apartments dropped by 4.7%

and splitting down the types of Royal Tunbridge Wells into property types ..

·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Detached £846,100
·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Semi-Detached £459,700
·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Terraced/Town-House £388,700
·     Royal Tunbridge Wells Flats/Apartments £282,300




Yet, Royal Tunbridge Wells Property Market Blog readers will know I always like to measure the health of the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market not only by house prices but transaction levels as well ..

1,128 properties were sold in the last year in Royal Tunbridge Wells,
 lower than the 10-year average of 1,386 properties per annum

Considering the uncertainty the Country has been through in the last three years with the ‘B’ word issue, I don’t think that’s too bad and shows the underlying resilience of the Royal Tunbridge Wells property market.

Now looking forward towards the end of the year .. how will Royal Tunbridge Wells’ house values change under the new Prime Minister?

Royal Tunbridge Wells buy-to-let landlords and Royal Tunbridge Wells first-time buyers seem to be sustaining their preceding activity levels, which is heartening news. It’s quite conceivable that both cohorts are presently profiting from the marginally increased numbers of Royal Tunbridge Wells homes on the market, which not only offers them greater choice, but aids with their negotiations. The suggested Stamp Duty changes made me look at previous Stamp Duty changes in the last decade and their effects have been rather short term.

That means those selling their homes in Royal Tunbridge Wells need to be realistic with their pricing, and, as most sellers also buy a property, what you might lose on your sale you will make up on the purchase.  


BoJo, Brexit … to be honest are all short-term distractions from the long-term issues of the UK and Royal Tunbridge Wells property market. Until we start building at least 300,000 properties a year to meet the demand for UK property, demand will always outstrip supply, meaning irrespective of short-term fluctuations that may (or may not) be caused by domestic and world events (including the ‘B’ word’), prices will always in the medium to long term remain stable and increase.

Sunday 1 September 2019

Royal Tunbridge Wells Homeowners can now build larger extensions without planning permission.

The need for more homes has always been one of the biggest issues with regard to the Country’s housing crisis.  One of the main reasons for families wanting to move home is the need for more accommodation as their families grow and so in 2013 and 2015, the planning permission rules were relaxed to try an alleviate this issue.

Initially in 2013, Nick Clegg, as Deputy Prime Mister, brought in temporary planning rules to allow larger single storey rear extensions without the requirement of a full planning application.  The temporary rules allowed terraced and semi-detached homes to be extended by just over 19ft, whilst detached houses were able to add even bigger extensions of up to 24ft.  Since those rules were relaxed six years ago, 109,320 people have taken advantage of the temporary rules (aka “permitted development size guidelines”).

Homeowners wanting to extend within these permitted development guidelines, must still inform the local authority of the extension beforehand, and local authority officials still need to then notify the neighbours.  If the neighbours object, the local authority could still stop the extension being built, but only if it is likely to damage the character or enjoyment of the neighbourhood.  The planning process exists for a reason and whilst these relaxed planning rules are popular with property owners, it does mean local authorities have little chance to deliberate the impact of these extensions on their locality.  However, 22,779 permitted developments had been refused in the same time frame meaning, 17.2% of permitted development planning applications have been refused since 2013.
Now these temporary rules have been made permanent recently as the Government believe these measures will help households extend their properties without fighting through the time-consuming red tape of obtaining planning permission.  The government believes this is part of a package of planning reforms to build more households, build them better, quicker and make the housing market work, meaning families can grow without being forced to sell and move… or does it?

The average size of a property 
in Royal Tunbridge Wells is 1,036 sq.ft

.. internally (1,187 sq.ft  externally), whilst to the national average 929 sq.ft internally (1,081 sq.ft externally).  Interesting when compared to the average size of a new homes built nationally which is 12.1% lower at 818 sq.ft internally (927 sq.ft externally).

These relaxed rules are only for single-storey extensions though, when most growing families don’t need an extra downstairs reception room, they need an additional upstairs bedroom.  This means if families do want an extra bedroom upstairs, they will still have to go through the rigmarole of submitting a full planning permission.  Although, many Royal Tunbridge Wells people have used these rules in the last 6 years to build a decent size granny-annex – there are other options less explored out there.

There was a second (less advertised) temporary change the Government made to planning rules in 2015, that has also been made permanent recently, many may have missed it, yet it has a bigger potential impact on the housing market.  The new rules make permanent the removal of planning rules to allow office blocks and shops to be converted into residential homes without a full planning application being made.  Since 2013, 11,090 office blocks and 1,750 shops have been converted into residential households.  This doesn’t sound a lot, but in 2017 alone, converted shops and office blocks provided 37,000 new households alone in the Country (or 17% of the new household created in 2017).

Over the next decade, more and more office blocks and shops will be converted into residential properties … and this will slowly change the dynamic of the housing market and the high street … and I’m not sure whether that will be for the good or bad ... only time will tell?