Huddersfield Property Market – Which Houses are Actually Selling?

Beast from the East, Russia, Facebook, Brexit, Trump, House prices up, House prices down ... the Press is full of column inches on Brit’s favourite subjects of politics, scandal, weather and not forgetting (and I appreciate the irony of this!) the property market. As an agent belonging a national group of letting and estate agents, talking to my fellow property professionals from around the UK, the one thing that is immediately apparent is the UK does not have one property market. It is a hodgepodge patchwork (almost like a fly’s eye) of lots of small property markets all performing in different ways.  

… And that made me think … is there just one Huddersfield Property Market or many?

I like to keep an eye on the property market in Huddersfield on a daily basis because it enables me to give the best advice and opinion on what (or not) to buy in Huddersfield, be that a buy-to-let property for a Huddersfield landlord or an owner occupier house for a home owner.  So, I thought, how could I scientifically split the Huddersfield housing market into segments, so I could see which part of the market was performing the best and the worst.

I decided the best way was to split the Huddersfield property market into four equal size price bands (into terms of households for sale). Each price band would have around 25% of the property in Huddersfield, from the lowest in value (the Lowest Quartile or 25%) all the way through to the highest 25% in terms of value, the Upper Quartile.  Looking at the market, I have calculated that these are the price bands in Huddersfield are as follows:

·         Lowest Quartile (lowest 25% in terms of value) … Up to £110,000

·         Lower/Middle Quartile (25% to 50% Quartile in terms of value) ...  £110,000 to £160,000

·         Middle/Upper Quartile (50% to 75% Quartile in terms of value) ... £160,000 to £260,000

·         Upper Quartile (highest 25% in terms of value) ... £260,000 Upwards

So, having split the Huddersfield Property Market approximately into four equal sizes, the results in terms what price band has sold (subject to contract or stc) the most is quite enlightening -

Huddersfield	Available	Sold STC	% Sold
Up to £110,000	357	214	37.5%
£110,000 to £160,000	329	279	45.9%
£160,000 to £260,000	346	218	38.7%
£260,000 Upwards	380	165	30.3%

The best performing price range in Huddersfield is the middle market. As I would expect, the upper quartile (the top 25%) is finding things tough. Interestingly for Huddersfield landlords, the lower market is also selling well, meaning there are plenty of Huddersfield landlords buying properties to add to their buy to let portfolios. Even though the number of first time buyers did increase in 2017, it was from a low base and the vast majority of 20 something’s cannot buy, so need a roof over their head (hence the need to rent somewhere).

It is a fact that British (and Huddersfield’s) housing markets have ridden the storms of Oil crisis in the 1970’s, the 1980’s depression, Black Monday in the 1990’s, and latterly the Credit Crunch together with the various house price crashes of 1973, 1987 and 2008. No matter what happens to us Brexit or anything else ... unless the Government starts to build hundreds of thousands extra houses each year, demand will always outstrip supply … so maybe a time for Huddersfield landlord investors to bag a bargain?

Want to know where those Huddersfield buy to let bargains are?  Follow my Huddersfield Property Blog or drop me an email because irrespective of which agent you use, myself or any of the other excellent agents in Huddersfield, many local landlords ask me my thoughts, opinion and advice on what (and not) to buy locally … and I wouldn’t want you to miss out on those thoughts ... would you?