With the stamp duty relief extended, yet more fuel has been thrown onto what was already a busy and competitive housing market. With that in mind, I thought I’d take a look at what’s out there at the moment in Chichester for potential buyers.
There are 802 property listings currently online in Chichester. 418 are still available to buy, whilst the other 384 have been sold (subject to completion). However, when you start to browse through these properties, you notice there are a lot of mobile homes (that can’t be used as a permanent residence), retirement flats (that are only good for people of a certain age), shared-ownership homes (that aren’t available to everyone) and properties advertised for ‘cash buyers only’ (which won’t apply to most). When you take all of these out of the mix, you’re left with just 276 properties to choose from!
Those looking to buy a three-bedroom home have the most choice, with 76 currently for sale (mostly terraced houses). Meanwhile those at the lower-end of the market looking for a one-bedroom property have the least to choose from, with just 25 on offer (all but one of which are flats).
Of course, what you can buy will largely depend on your budget. The cheapest of the 276 mortgageable properties that are suitable for non-retirees, can be called your own and lived in all year round, is a one-bedroom flat in Shopwhyke Road, priced at £135,000.
At the other end of the scale, the most expensive property for sale in Chichester today is a five-bedroom townhouse in West Pallant, priced at £1.5million. Located in the heart of the city, the Grade II listed property boasts three floors of beautifully-presented accommodation, as well as a south-facing rear courtyard.
Assuming your budget is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, it might be useful to know that the average property marketed for sale in Chichester is priced at £379,950, which is just £50 shy of the average figure twelve months ago i.e. asking prices are very similar to a year ago.
Breaking the average down by property type provides a good indication of what your budget is likely to be able to afford in Chichester:
one-bedroom flat = £207,000
two-bedroom flat = £275,000
two-bedroom house = £325,000
three-bedroom house = £440,000
four-bedroom house = £550,000
Interestingly, the average price of each property type has either increased or remained the same (in the case of two-bedroom flats) compared to a year ago. This has occurred at the same time as the number of properties available to buy has (marginally) decreased and yet the number of properties sold has nearly doubled compared to a year ago.
It seems therefore that the low supply of property alongside an increase in demand in Chichester is a key reason why property prices remain so resilient despite the pandemic. This limits prospective buyers’ choices, which makes finding that dream home just a little bit trickier.
