Plus Chelmsford

As we can tell from 8-9am, the most popular means of travelling to work is by car in Chelmsford

The most predominant industry of employment in Chelmsford is Public admin, education & health which comprises 29.2% of the working age population.

14.7% of the population in Chelmsford are aged between 35 and 44 which is above the regional average. 29.8% of households comprise just one person while 38.1% of households include families with children.

In 2021 there were 93,199 people living within Chelmsford. The overall population increased by 10.4% in the ten years between 2011 and 2021. Demand will ensure the housing market copes with external market conditions.

Chelmsford house prices show incredible long-term increases with 5 years up 17.2%, 10 years 68.5% and over 20 years up by 136.5%. If you own a house you benefit even more. 😎

Looking after yourself is commonly the last thing we do. So let's focus on us to make everything more positive.

The highest value recorded by the Land Registry in Chelmsford over the past 12 months was £560,000 for a flat and £1,645,000 for a house.

34% of sales in Chelmsford over the past 12 months were flats, achieving an average sales price of £235,084. Houses achieved an average price of £446,607. 👍

Over the last 12 months the average sales price in Chelmsford was £358,516. The total value of sales was £527,472,577. 😀

Adding value to your Chelmsford home is a key consideration for many home owners.

Of large-scale projects, research shows that a garage conversion or garden office may well provide the best return on your investment, especially with 44% of people now working from home (ONS).

With the cost of living at the forefront of minds, upgrades to energy efficiency can provide a better return on investment than a kitchen or bathroom renovation that may or may not suit a buyer's taste when you come to sell.

Smaller investments, such as redecorating and adding an electric vehicle charge point, can also add value. These projects also help your property appeal to a wider variety of prospective buyers.

Source: Dataloft, Barrows and Forrester Property Group, ONS.
Based on an average UK house price of £287,506.

Bank Holiday, and time to head down to B&Q to refresh your home?

Celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III

Charles III, King of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms will be crowned at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May. This will be the 40th coronation to be held at the Abbey since 1066.

In the past two years alone there have been over 8,800 property sales on streets with coronation-related street names, nearly 100 sales taking place with a property address including 'King Charles'.

Properties with 'King' in the street name achieved an average sales price of just over £500,000, compared to 'King Charles' £360,000 and 'Coronation' £226,000.

Neighbourhoods across the country are encouraged to get together for the Coronation Big Lunch and Big Help Out. More than 80% of home movers rate pleasant neighbours as important when choosing a property to buy, while 3 in every 4 value a sense of community.

Source: Dataloft, Land Registry, based on sales April 202 to March 2023, Property Academy Home Moving Trends Surveys 2022

Property views online indicate where the market is going and shows whether the demand is growing or declining. As we can see there are less buyers compared to the beginning of the year and it is trending downwards. This switches the market to a buyer market, which normally sees a reduction in sales prices. Let's see where we go over the coming weeks

So we have shown positive news for the housing market with listings and sales agreed building momentum. However, we can see here that the sales agreed have been fuelled by price reductions, that are increasing as a clear trend. We analyse performance every week to be ahead of the market.

Good news for home sellers as weekly sales agreed numbers in 2023 continue to trend upwards, despite the down and gloom of the UK media. Let's go!

Say goodbye to the April showers and a big HELLO to sunny May 🤞

Our weekly new listing numbers are out for showing a slowdown after the Easter period but an overall positive trend. We expect increased numbers over the next few weeks as we head into the early summer.

Available homes in continue to trend higher as the market returns to pre-covid conditions. We expect finding a buyer to take slightly longer but for the legal transaction to speed up as transaction levels reduce for conveyancers. Benefit: more choice for buyers.😀

Professionalism and knowledge top the reasons of why prospective vendors choose their agents, irrespective of age or how experienced a seller may be.

‘Confidence in an agent's ability to market my property', was the most cited reason for choosing an agent, followed by 'liked and trusted them'.

37% of vendors include 'pleased with their valuation', in their top 5 reasons. This was more prominent among younger and less experienced sellers.

With the market stabilising, appointing an agent who understands market conditions, and prices accordingly, is important to achieving sales success. Source: Dataloft, Property

Academy Home Moving Trends Survey 2022

The housing market has returned to 'normal' conditions, with homes taking longer to sell. Available properties are consistently increasing, which makes the market more competitive. Price reductions are powering the market, but it is working with growing sales agreed. The critical first trend is the number of views each property gets online, which is decreasing, so pricing ahead of the market is essential. If you want a more in-depth discussion, call us today.

Understanding market conditions is our job, to give you an advantage

At 55 days, the average time taken to sell a property (from listing to sold subject to contract) is nearly two weeks faster than the last so-called 'normal' market of 2019 (67 days).

Rightmove report the number of sales agreed in March 2023 is just 1% lower than in March 2019, while buyer demand is 8% stronger.

Smaller properties of two bedrooms or less are proving the most sought after at present. Sales agreed in this sector are up 4%, and demand is 11% higher than in 2019.

Besides Scotland, properties are currently selling more quickly than the national average in the North East, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the South West.

Source: Dataloft, Rightmove, based on month of March

Open-plan living has become a huge trend over recent times for both renovations and new build housing. Fewer walls create additional light and space and more sociable living.

The recent 2021 census data has hinted at the massive impact this trend has had. The number of households with 4 or less rooms* has doubled from just over 7.6 million to over 15.3 million. Meanwhile, the number of households with 5 or more rooms* has decreased by 40% from over 15.7 million to just under 9.5 million.
How we use space in our homes is becoming more imaginative, with newer trends such as ‘broken-plan’ living where dividers and low walls help to find a compromise between open-plan and traditional layouts.

This modern way of living is very much still on trend and desirable. Google Analytics shows that search interest in the keyword ‘open plan’ grew 188% between 2011 and 2021.

*Bathrooms and toilets are excluded from the census counts. Source: Dataloft, 2011 & 2021 Census, Google

Bungalows are a popular type of home in England and Wales and represent 9.3% of the housing stock (5 million properties). 8% of homes sold in the last year were bungalows and the most popular month for sales was March, with 10.6% of all sales.

Bungalows offer the greatest potential increase in energy efficiency of any housing type, through improvements such as insulation and solar power. On average, bungalows currently have the potential to increase energy efficiency scores by 36%. Other houses typically only have the potential to improve by 30% and flats by 10%.

Popular locations of recent bungalow sales have mainly occurred along the coast and include Bournemouth, Bognor Regis, Leigh-on-Sea, Clacton-on-Sea, Norwich, Sunderland, Blackpool and Rhyl. Source: Dataloft/Land Registry (2022/23), BRE Trust (2017)

Our Lead Realtor & Director, Daniel Little, has extensive experience selling homes in Essex. As a senior Branch Manager for multiple brands, Daniel's hands-on approach, knowledge, and client care are outstanding.

Daniel firmly believes in our philosophy of managing capacity and is not interested in aiming for lots of transactional numbers each month; instead wants to help selected customers move home and dedicate more time to improve the user experience.

So whats does our H.A.P.P.Y programme stand for. Well its all about our customer 😀🥰