The common-or-garden bungalow is scorching property. One in Dorset simply bought at £15,000 over the asking value, one other at £10,000 over the information value final week in West Sussex, and some days in the past a fixer-upper on the Kent coast went for £10,000 greater than its price ticket.
For years, bungalows suffered from a lingering stigma of being outdated, unimaginative or deemed just for older owners who couldn’t handle the steps.
However at present frenzied bidding wars are breaking out amongst aspiring house owners throughout the UK, with downsizers competing with first-time consumers in addition to these searching for a vacation dwelling.
So trendy are they that TikTok and Instagram are awash with 1000’s of posts about sensible bungalow makeovers.
These properties are proving so in vogue that their worth has elevated by 22 per cent on common because the pandemic — in comparison with simply 15 per cent for every type of property throughout the UK, in keeping with property company Hamptons. Bungalows now sometimes promote for £362,445.
Scorching property: Frenzied bidding wars are breaking out amongst aspiring bungalow house owners, with downsizers competing with first-time consumers in addition to these searching for a vacation dwelling
Bungalow house owners have actually been reaping rewards. The typical acquire on a bungalow bought final 12 months was £102,000, the equal of £13,100 a 12 months, in keeping with Zoopla.
It is a better acquire than each different kind of property apart from conventional indifferent homes.
Who’s snapping them up?
Bungalows have been surging in recognition amongst younger households lately — as first-time consumers search for cheaper methods to get a foothold on the property ladder.
Property brokers say younger professionals of their 20s and 30s are more and more getting into bidding wars towards pensioners.
Reanne Newport, 31, adores her three-bedroom bungalow in Bournemouth the place she lives with husband Darren, 35, and golden retriever Bonnie.
The couple purchased the Nineteen Eighties property in June 2021 for £365,000 and have spent the previous three years renovating it. This included changing the storage of their backyard right into a mini bar.
The scale of the land across the bungalow was a direct draw for Reanne. She says: ‘Earlier than, we lived on the top of a terrace. We dwell on the South Coast so home costs are sky-high.’
Different homes of their value vary didn’t have as a lot land and have been on a lot busier roads, she says.
Whereas they’re the youngest of their cul-de-sac of bungalows, Reanne, an operations supervisor at public sale service Iamproperty, has seen a surge in youthful individuals taking an curiosity within the one-storey houses.
She says: ‘One bungalow on the road got here in the marketplace and two younger households have considered it.
‘I’ve additionally obtained two pals who’ve bought bungalows. It’s a good way to do a renovation. For households, it’s a greater location and extra room to construct up.’
The couple don’t have any youngsters however stated the bungalow can be supreme for elevating a household. ‘We’ll undoubtedly be capable to have youngsters right here. My husband needs our subsequent property to be a bungalow, too.’
Craig Johnson, 30, and his associate Simon Hunter, 35, have spent the previous 4 years bettering and increasing their three-bed property on the outskirts of Edinburgh, which they purchased in August 2020.
The couple have been chronicling each step of their dwelling enhancements on Instagram, with their account @bowbridgebungalow amassing 63,300 followers.
Craig and Simon, who run a dance faculty, selected the bungalow to accommodate their rising household, the place they dwell with their child Sebastian and two canines Margot and Hero.
Downsizers have sometimes made up the most important pool of consumers for bungalows. Having no stairs means they’re seen as an amazing possibility for individuals with, or apprehensive about, mobility points.
In latest months, their recognition amongst this cohort has grown greater nonetheless, says Mike Cleary, proprietor of Midlands agent Sheldon Bosley Knight.
That’s as a result of downsizers who would possibly sometimes have thought-about a flat are actually avoiding them as a result of they’re more and more apprehensive concerning the perils of shifting from a freehold to a leasehold property.
Leaseholds have come beneath scrutiny as a result of rising floor rents — notably for retirement flats.
‘Bungalows are like hen’s enamel; as a result of there aren’t that lots of them but they’re extremely wanted,’ says Mr Cleary. ‘Downsizers don’t need to compromise on house, and robust anti-leasehold feeling can be pushing them away from flats.’
He provides that bungalows additionally attraction to households as the only storey lends itself to trendy open‑plan dwelling.
And whereas rising rates of interest have curbed some elements of the housing market, bungalow gross sales have proved extra resilient.
That is partly as a result of downsizers are usually money consumers and are, due to this fact, unaffected by mortgage charges.
In seaside areas, bungalow wars can escalate over the scruffiest of properties — if there’s a shocking view, for instance — and downsizers could also be competing with builders and vacation dwelling consumers.
Final month a 1,593 sq ft, three-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow in nice situation within the trendy north Cornwall village of Rock went for £900,000 — which was £5,000 above its asking value — after a bidding battle broke out between downsizers and vacation dwelling consumers.
‘After six viewings it shortly bought to a few of their 80s shifting from a big home,’ says Charlie Hambly of the agent John Bray Estates.
The typical dwelling was bought at a 3.9 per cent low cost to asking value in March — equal to £10,000 — in keeping with property web site Zoopla. In London and the South-East the low cost grows to 4.3 per cent, or £19,500.
In demand: Bungalows have been surging in recognition amongst younger households lately — as first-time consumers search for cheaper methods to get a foothold on the property ladder
The place are Bidding wars breaking out?
Properties in areas enticing to downsizers, households and consumers searching for a greater high quality of life are proving the fiercest battle grounds.
For instance, in Highcliffe on the Dorset coast, a Fifties indifferent bungalow simply bought for £15,000 over the asking value of £525,000. It went on sale lower than a month in the past and had 19 viewings and eight affords.
The property advantages from proximity to good colleges and exquisite seashores. ‘The structure was the suitable approach spherical, with the bedrooms on the entrance, and the lounge and kitchen opening out on to the backyard,’ says Mike Watters of the property agent Winkworth.
Adrian Passingham, from Strutt & Parker, says that bungalow wars have additionally damaged out in East and West Sussex. ‘Good colleges right here imply households are taking a look at them, with loft conversions in thoughts.’
Mike Morrison and his spouse Sarah paid £10,000 over the asking value final week for a bungalow in Hassocks, West Sussex, at a information value of £650,000.
Retired instructor Mike, 77, says: ‘We wished a bungalow for the dimensions and huge backyard, however not one needing work or that was too lower off. We have been outbid on one in March.’
Bungalows with three bedrooms are particularly wanted. Chris Husson-Martin, from Hamptons in Salisbury, says that the latest improve in renovation prices signifies that downsizers are much less eager to broaden now.
‘Three bedrooms are particularly in demand. Costing round £100,000 so as to add one other bed room, two-bedroom properties are of much less curiosity,’ he says.
Carol Peett, of West Wales Property Finders, provides: ‘Many older individuals don’t need the mess and aggravation of renovating or are apprehensive about getting ripped off by unscrupulous tradesmen.’
It’s not simply coastal areas the place bungalows are in excessive demand. Mark Manning of agent Manning Stainton says demand exceeds provide within the Leeds space, the place 697 bungalows went on sale between the beginning of the 12 months and April 21, with a mean value of £359 per sq ft — a lot greater than the typical for all property sorts at £284 per sq ft.
‘But this 12 months we have now 995 registered consumers searching for a bungalow. One in North Leeds simply went for £5,000 over the information value of £200,000 after 12 viewings.’
One-storey houses that may develop
In contrast to different properties, bungalows might be prolonged upwards in addition to outwards, making them enticing to many consumers.
Becca, 29, and her builder associate Jordan, 30, are midway by means of extending a Fifties two-bedroom bungalow on the East Sussex coast right into a five-bedroom property over two flooring.
‘Right here there are such a lot of bungalows that supply the chance so as to add worth,’ says Becca, who paperwork her redesign on Instagram (@renovationliving).
‘We made a superb revenue on our first bungalow renovation, and we’ll have the house to develop our household right here.’
Instagram influencers Craig and Simon spent round £180,000 extending and bettering their three-bedroom Edinburgh bungalow.
Extensions: In contrast to with different properties, bungalows might be prolonged upwards in addition to outwards, making them enticing to many consumers
They each grew up in single-storey houses and liked their comfort, so didn’t need to prolong upwards on the Fifties bungalow they purchased for £385,000.
Craig says: ‘As an alternative, we prolonged the entrance, rear and facet, and elevated its dimension by a 3rd. The property has practically doubled in worth since we purchased it. And now we have now a nine-month-old son, there may be an extra profit to not having stairs.’
They aren’t the one consumers to go for a bungalow partly for nostalgic causes. In March, Valerie Lowes discovered a two-bed bungalow, in-built 2019 in Evesham, Worcestershire, which she and husband Ian, 63, wished for his or her retirement.
Valerie, 59, who’s retired after working for WHSmith, says: ‘I grew up in a bungalow and this affords a lot extra space than the two-bedroom homes we additionally checked out.’
What about new bungalows?
New bungalows are briefly provide. Simply 228 have been registered within the third quarter of final 12 months, down 70 per cent on the identical interval a 12 months earlier, in keeping with the Nationwide Home Constructing Council.
This was the bottom determine recorded by the NHBC in its 80-year historical past.
On a brand new housing scheme in Cambridgeshire, simply two of the 44 houses constructed are bungalows. One at 1,300 sq ft went beneath supply every week in the past at £650,000.
However Megan Cracknell of property company Carter Jonas, says that regardless of sturdy demand for bungalows on the whole, new properties aren’t at all times being snapped up.
That’s as a result of they’re not often as large because the older ones. She says: ‘Folks downsizing from a 4 or five-bedroom home need greater bungalows, not the 800 sq ft two-bedroom ones being constructed.’
After seeing new bungalows promote extra readily than new homes within the Midlands, Simon Chicken, of Oakwood Residential Improvement, has provide you with an possibility that he hopes will attraction to these searching for house and a bungalow really feel.
In different phrases, a ‘dormer bungalow’ — a 1.5-storey home. He’s constructing a gaggle of 9 in Syston, Leicestershire, at a beginning value of £450,000.
‘With two ensuite bedrooms downstairs, the upstairs bed room is designed for kin or company,’ he says. ‘Downsizers don’t need to compromise an excessive amount of. These are 1,200 sq ft, high-spec, cottage-style houses.’
Further reporting by Lucy Evans.
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