Understanding the market in hertford

What do you think about the quality and pace of housing development in Hertford?
codek2
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Joined:Tue 12 Nov, 2013 4:32 pm
Understanding the market in hertford

Post by codek2 » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 1:33 pm

Hi,

Trying to get my head around the macro market in hertford..

We noticed this house which appeared and sold within a week for 800k:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for ... miumA=true

Despite it having a severely compromised floor plan, and yes it does have nice kitchen/bathroom but the rest of the decor is pretty tired.

And then this has just come on the market:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for ... 65826.html

And is spectacular compared to the first house. And has an extra bedroom. So why is it 150k less? Is there really that much penalty for not being in an established estate?

OK, it's quite a bit further from town, but it is still in the key sg13 catchment area...

fletch
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Joined:Tue 03 Dec, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by fletch » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 9:09 am

Location Location Location

MultiDad
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Joined:Tue 10 Dec, 2013 9:58 am

Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by MultiDad » Fri 20 Feb, 2015 1:09 pm

schools and the proximity of the house to a good one in Hertford is a BIG factor

first house is in a good area, well built (30's I'd Guess?) big rooms, great garden etc etc. the sort of place that would still be standing in 100 years from now

the 2nd one is an 80's/90's style house with rooms like shoeboxs and the 4th and fifth bedrooms could barely fit a bed and a wardrobe in them. the bedroom in the eaves of the house would be great if you were very, very small. a house i visited in that area had the build quality and rigidity of a damp cardboard box (don't know if this one would be the same )

i think it's a bit like a when someone buys a ford focus or a VW golf. they look the same but one is 25% more. why? one is quality from top to bottom , whereas the other is 'built to a price'

all this is just 'my opinion' and is not meant to slate anyone living in either area/house or those who drive Fords :D

codek2
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Joined:Tue 12 Nov, 2013 4:32 pm

Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by codek2 » Mon 23 Feb, 2015 10:01 am

OK, so there's another thing that i've been trying to understand.

rightmove will give price trends at the SG13 level - and this shows that SG13 has not really risen in price in recent times. It's not above the peak of 07.

However; If you look at sold properties in the mangrove road/hagsdell road/queens road you can clearly see there has been significant increases in price, not least of all the example below. A few years ago there were some MUCH nicer properties that sold for less than 800k.

So; I guess, is this telling us that SG13 is not granular enough to look at trends, and the specific area south of the bypass is a world unto itself in prices?

Smudger
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Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by Smudger » Tue 24 Feb, 2015 9:33 pm

Mangrove Road is a very sought after desirable road, in the "right part of town"
Foxholes is just a legoland of bog standard new houses on the edge of the Town.

Simples

codek2
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Joined:Tue 12 Nov, 2013 4:32 pm

Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by codek2 » Wed 25 Feb, 2015 10:40 am

yes, I get that. I'm trying to work out whether to believe the agents patter about house prices rising despite the stats saying no. Are they trying to make it a self fulfilling prophecy! And also; it's worth while to be able to quantify the discount you get by living in a cardboard built house in the "wrong" area. (Despite that wrong area still being the right area for schools)

IF prices have risen in the "right" part of town then that means prices MUST have fallen in the other areas of SG13 (according to the trends) Which also doesn't make a lot of sense.

Perhaps more likely there's not enough comparable data points.

I must admit, I felt the far end of mangrove road is also really not that nice. None of that area is spectacular, certainly no where near as nice as bengeo area. But the variety of houses is good, as is the fact that most are quite large. A proper family area.

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leo densian
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Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by leo densian » Wed 25 Feb, 2015 12:32 pm

codek2 wrote: None of that area is spectacular, certainly no where near as nice as bengeo area.
But there are also parts of 'Bengeo area' that you are quite welcome to

jackanapes
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Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by jackanapes » Wed 25 Feb, 2015 3:45 pm

Mangrove Road is a very sought after desirable road, in the "right part of town"
Foxholes is just a legoland of bog standard new houses on the edge of the Town.

Simples
Pretty much this, it's also too far for me to walk into town on a regular basis, when we moved to Hertford, 10 years ago now, we excluded Foxholes for that reason, coming from London we were used to walking to places. Not stuck in an estate on the edge of town. Not sure how bothered other people of Hertford are about this but it was a major consideration for us.

Also wrt property prices, sold prices on Zoopla

SG14 - 5 Year Change - +18.9%
SG13 - 5 Year Change - +19.05%

SG14 - 1 Year change - +6.98%
SG13 - 1 Year Change - +8.05%

codek2
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Joined:Tue 12 Nov, 2013 4:32 pm

Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by codek2 » Wed 25 Feb, 2015 4:01 pm

Ooh, those prices are very different to what I saw on rightmove, that is interesting. Ties in more with what the agent said.

Kateg28
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Re: Understanding the market in hertford

Post by Kateg28 » Thu 26 Feb, 2015 10:11 am

I follow comparable houses to mine on rightmove. Now I am only looking at the for sale price, not what it sold for, I am not so interested to spend time investigating it in depth, it is more curiosity.

Based on my loose musings, prices are rising and family homes are selling very fast, especially in the 200k to 500k bracket.

Edited to add that Foxholes appears to be quite 'leafy' at the moment. I must admit I read the story expecting it to be on Sele Farm.

http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/M ... story.html
Last edited by Kateg28 on Thu 26 Feb, 2015 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

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