The UK property market is hit and miss right now, as although the average time to sell a home sits at 59 days, according to Goodmove, over half of sales take more than 10 months.
This time of year is especially difficult for sellers, with research by Moverly finding that the Autumn months of September, October and November have the longest average time to sell out of all the seasons at 73.3 days.
It’s vital to make your home stand out — especially if you want to get the process sorted by Christmas. But if you’ve already done the usual things (such as getting great pictures and keeping the decor neutral) what else makes a difference?
To work out how you can increase your chances of a quick sale, it makes sense to look at the ones that have cracked the formula already.
On average, 12% of all properties to have been listed in the last 30 days have found a buyer, and Yopa has revealed three unique features that make up a large proportion of this successful group.
So if you want to speed up the process when selling your own home, you’d be wise to follow their lead.
Breakfast bar
The estate agent’s analysis showed that the most desirable design feature for today’s househunters is a breakfast bar, with 13.6% of all listings from the last month with a breakfast bar already finding a buyer.
Laminam describes this trend as ‘broken plan living,’ with the company’s research and development director, Claudio Corniola, saying it ‘creates a point of difference within a kitchen design while also adding a practical area for food prep, dining, entertaining, socialising and home working.’
If you’re looking at having one put in, estimates from Refresh Renovations put the price of extending an existing kitchen to create a breakfast bar from roughly £250 (not including installation) so it can definitely be done affordably.
Kitchen island
Along the same vein, kitchen islands are proving especially popular; 12.6% of all homes listed in the last month complete with this feature having already sold.
Space is naturally going to be a factor here, but if you have the room, an island is a practical addition that’ll attract buyers galore.
Al Bruce, Founder of Olive & Barr, comments: ‘The island creates a centrepiece in the kitchen, allowing you to utilise it as a workspace and social area where friends and family gravitate throughout the day.
‘A welcome divide in a large open-plan kitchen, an island will anchor a design and draw the eye to where the action takes place. Often a homely and personal area of the kitchen, the island is a place where you can display flowers, arrange your favourite cookbooks, and most importantly entertain and cook.’
High EPC rating
EPCs have been making the headlines once again within the rental sector and it appears as though homebuyers are also prioritising a property’s energy efficiency.
12.6% of all homes listed in the last month which boast an EPC rating of C or above have already found a buyer — with this level of demand again sitting above the wider market benchmark.
Terry Fisher, property expert at We Buy Any Home says this trend will likely continue, explaining: ‘The government and local councils are pushing for net-zero carbon goals, and buyers are increasingly looking for homes that meet high environmental standards.
‘Homes with low energy ratings will likely see a drop in demand, while eco-certified properties could command premium prices.’
With demand at 11.1% and 10.4% respectively, freestanding baths and doer uppers are also seeing fairly robust levels of buyer demand in the current market, as are wooden beams (9.7%), dressing rooms (9.5%) and high ceilings (9.2%).
At the other end of the table, a pool is the least in demand feature at 5.6%, while large gardens also surprisingly out of fashion with just 7.1% of total stock having already been sold.
CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, says: ‘It’s important to understand which unique features are enticing buyers and to what end this could help you to sell your home more swiftly or boost the price you can achieve.
‘For example, it’s the smaller, more functional features that are currently resonating with buyers, such as a more usable kitchen space. The chance to reduce their outgoings with a more energy efficient property is also a high priority and this speaks to the fact that whilst the market outlook has improved, many buyers remain restricted due to higher mortgage rates.
‘As a result, more opulent offerings such as swimming pools, large gardens and grade listed features aren’t in high demand, no doubt due to the fact that homes boasting such luxuries are at the higher end of the house price scale and out of reach for most in today’s market.’
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