Property – Character Properties – are they becoming hard to sell?
For a long time the perceived wisdom has been that character properties such as Georgian townhouses and Victorian villas sell at a premium to comparable size modern properties; in some areas that premium is as much as 20%. Looking at the current market, in my area at least, this still seems to be true but what I’m also noticing is that character properties are taking longer to sell. In one town which has a fair proportion of 18th and 19th Century properties, out of 6 houses that have been on the market for more than 6 months, 5 of them are character properties.
I have a theory about this. Character homes have a lot to offer such as period charm, well-proportioned rooms and often a good deal of interior space. What they tend to lack are modern amenities such as garages, utility rooms and the plethora of bathrooms that everyone takes for granted these days. They are also badly insulated, expensive to heat and require a lot of upkeep and maintenance. For all these reasons, for a period home may well not be the best option for a family or a first time buyer.
The present market conditions of static or even falling house prices actually favour those who are looking to upsize; yes, they get less money for the house they are selling but they save proportionately more on the house they are buying. But character properties are often bought by retirees or families where the children are about to leave home to go to university. Effectively, these people are often downsizing and they have a strong incentive to sit tight and wait for the market to improve. This is why character properties are proving slow to sell at the moment.
If you are trying to sell a period home and it is proving heavy going, my advice is to be patient; the right buyer will come along eventually.
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