Christmas property market trivia with Waterfords Estate Agents

News at Waterfords | 14/12/2021

Waterfords Estate Agents in Camberley, Chobham, Fleet and Yateley bring you a little bit of Christmas trivia about the UK property market. Wow your friends and family at Christmas dinner with our fun property facts!

Buying houses with Brussels sprouts!

Love them or hate them, the Brussels sprout is a quintessential part of a Christmas meal for many. In fact, the British are believed to eat more Brussels than anywhere else in Europe.

The Brussels sprout industry is worth £650 million to the UK. For that, you could purchase over 1,500 detached houses, or over 2,900 terraced properties or apartments at the average UK house price!

Happy Xtras

Affordability/rental costs top the renter wish list when it comes to choosing a home, followed by pleasant neighbours and broadband speed.

However, in terms of the added extras, most renters would pay a monthly premium (£50 in London, £40 outside) for certain features, just 28% stated an outright ‘no’ to any.

Parking takes pole position, followed by a pet-friendly property. With more of us adopting a hybrid work pattern, quality soundproofing from internal and external noise was placed third.

Polar Express

The week before Christmas is traditionally one of the busiest periods for rail travel. Over 10.7 million households in England and Wales are within a 15-minute walk of their nearest station, the equivalent to 41% of households.

There are over 2,200 railway stations across England and Wales. Of the top 20 busiest stations, only Birmingham New Street, Leeds and Manchester Piccadilly are outside the capital.

Passenger numbers at the top 20 busiest stations exceeded 158 million in the year to the end of March. This compares to just 436 ‘entry and exits’ at the 20 least-used stations.

Ho Ho Home

Over 500 properties have sold with either 'Christmas' in their name or address across England and Wales since 1995, with 23 'Christmas' sales so far in 2021.

70% of sales have been of properties named either 'Christmas Cottage; or properties located on roads named 'Christmas Street', 'Christmas Lane' or 'Christmas Pie Avenue'.

There are a huge variety of other festive street names across the UK including Rudolph Road, Holly Gardens, Advent Way, Robin Close and Snow Hill.

Royal Mail advise the last posting date for Christmas 2nd Class is Saturday 18th December, 1st Class Tuesday 21st December.

Dingdong!

Over 85% of all property sales recorded to date by the Land Registry in 2021 have been houses, the highest proportion since 1996. Undoubtedly a result of the ‘search for space’ which has epitomized the property market this year.

Spending spree

Shoppers across the UK are forecast to spend a staggering £84.7 billion on Christmas 2021, the equivalent to nearly 314,000 average-priced homes. Spending is set to rise above pre-pandemic levels.

£32.26 billion (38%) of spending is set to be online, the value of Christmas online spending up 45% on 2019.

Home for Christmas

It is estimated that 1 in every 16 privately-owned homes has changed hands this year (1.5 million households). 2021 has been the busiest year for the property market since 2007.

Let it snow

The last widespread white Christmas in the UK was in 2010, when 83% of weather stations reported snow on the ground. The average price of a property has risen by just over 60%, the equivalent of £101,000 since that date.

Over the last 50 years snow has fallen on just 15 Christmas Days, 2020 the most recent white Christmas after snow fell overnight across parts of the UK.

According to the Met Office, the UK averages 3.9 days of snow and sleet in December, compared to 5.3 days in January.

Warm this winter

Just 1 in every 11 properties sold over the past year has achieved the highest energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of ‘A’ or ‘B’. Such properties have commanded a 15% price premium over a ‘D’ rated property (based on £psf). 65% of homes are rated ‘D’ or lower. Brrrrr!!