It might surprise you that it isn’t always the poshest
villages around Huddersfield or the swankiest Huddersfield streets where properties
sell and let the quickest. Quite often, it’s the ones that have the best transport
links. I mean, there is a reason why one of the most popular property
programmes on television is called Location, Location, Location!
As an agent in Huddersfield, I am frequently confronted
with queries about the Huddersfield property market, and most days I
am asked, “What is the best part of Huddersfield and its villages to live in
these days?”, chiefly from new-comers. Now the answer is different for each person
– a lot depends on the demographics of their family, their age, schooling
requirements and interests etc. Nonetheless, one of the principal necessities
for most tenants and buyers is ease of access to transport links,
including public transport – of which the railways are very important.
Official
figures recently released state that, in total, 6,925 people jump on a train
each and every day from Huddersfield Train station. Of those, 2,364 are season
ticket holders. That’s a lot of money being spent when a season ticket,
standard class, to Leeds is £1,324 a year.
So, if up to £3.13m
is being spent on rail season tickets each year from Huddersfield, those
commuters must have some impressive jobs and incomes to allow them to afford
that season ticket in the first place. That means demand for middle to upper
market properties remains strong in Huddersfield and the surrounding area and so,
in turn, these are the type of people whom are happy to invest in the Huddersfield
buy to let market – providing homes for the tenants of Huddersfield…
The bottom line is that property values in Huddersfield would be much
lower, by at least 3% to 4%, if it wasn’t for the proximity of the railway
station and the people it serves in the town
And this isn’t a flash in the pan. Rail is becoming
increasingly important as the costs associated with car travel
continue to rise and roads are becoming more and more congested. This has
resulted in a huge surge in rail travel.
Overall usage
of the station at Huddersfield has increased over the last 20 years. In 1997, a
total of 1,681,763 people went through the barriers or connected with another
train at the station in that 12-month period. However, in 2016, that figure had
risen to 5,041,600 people using the station (that’s 13,851 people a day).
The juxtaposition of the property and the train station has
an important effect on the value and saleability of a Huddersfield property. It
is also significant for tenants - so if you are a Huddersfield buy to let investor
looking for a property - the distance to and from the railway station
can be extremely significant.
One of the first things house buyers and tenants do
when surfing the web for somewhere to live is find out the proximity of a
property to the train station. That is why Rightmove displays the distance
to the railway station alongside each and every property on their website.
For more thoughts on the Huddersfield Property market –
please visit the Huddersfield Property Blog https://huddersfieldproperty.blogspot.co.uk/
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