Top 20 property hotspots!

One town has seen property sales rocket by 85% in the past 12 months.

My hometown of Ilford, on the Essex/East London border, is not famous for much. Paul Ince, the former England captain hails from the area, but that’s about it.

And when it comes to the property market, it has even worse pedigree – it has been described as the mortgage fraud epicentre of the UK, with a bizarrely large proportion of mortgage brokers banned for fraud operating there.

However, according to a new study from Halifax, little old Ilford is officially the hottest of all the property hotspots in the UK!

I am so proud.

Booming home sales

Using figures from the Land Registry, Halifax has worked out which towns in the UK have seen the sharpest rise in home sales, comparing the number of transactions in the first half of 2009 to the first half of this year, to identify the biggest home sale hotspots.

And it’s my hometown that has seen the sharpest rise in property transactions, jumping a frankly astonishing 85% over the past 12 months, ahead of Croydon in second place, which saw sales rocket 73%, and Maidenhead in third place, where sales jumped 71%.

So what does Ilford have going for it? The first thing that springs to mind, for me anyway, is that along with Romford (which saw sales increase by 69%) it’s not very far at all from Stratford, which of course is where the Olympics in 2012 will be held. As the games get nearer, I’ve no doubt some people have already turned their minds towards how to make a few bob out of them.

There’s also a clutch of decent schools within a relatively short distance of the town, including the grammar schools Ilford County High and Woodford County High.

Let’s take a look at the 20 towns which saw sales increase by the highest percentage.

London calling

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One thing that jumps out immediately when you look at the 20 towns that have seen sharp jumps in property transactions – the vast majority are found just a short train journey from London.

Indeed, 16 of the 20 towns are found in London and the South East – only Stockport (which, coincidentally, is my Editor's hometown), Chorley, Shrewsbury, and Durham are outside what could be classed as the commuter belt.

So, while the housing market in some places appears to have staged something of a revival over the past year, it seems to have been driven by transactions in and around the nation’s capital.

Or it's because they're the hometowns of lovemoney.com writers - take your pick as to which explanation is more likely.

Trains boost prices!

I'm guessing it's proximity to London - or at least, proximity to easy transport into London.

A study earlier this year by Nationwide Building Society found that for properties in London, being near to a train station could boost a property’s price by up to £20,000.

According to Nationwide, homes found within 500 metres of a station will be around 7.2% more expensive than an identical property 1500 metres from the station, the equivalent of £20,300. Properties found within 750 metres will carry a 5.2% premium, 1000 metres a 3.4% premium and 1250 metres a 1.6% premium.

The other end of the scale

So we’ve established that Southern towns have dominated the list of areas where property transactions have rocketed. What about the other end of the scale, the towns where property transactions have increased the least?

Here are the ten towns that have seen the smallest change in home sale numbers.

As you can see, three towns have seen no increase at all in home sales, despite the relatively positive year the housing market has enjoyed. And while the hotspot list was dominated by homes in the south, the top 10 property coldspots are dominated by towns in the North.

There has always been something of a North/South divide when it comes to property, but clearly the last year has seen an essentially two-paced housing market.

Great news if you’re selling in the South, not so much if you’re selling in the North. However, irrespective of where you are selling, there are things you can do to make your home more appealing to the prospective buyers.

Don’t put them off

It’s pretty obvious that if there’s something about your home that puts buyers off, it will be pretty tough to sell the thing!

A study by the Co-op last year found that buyers judge a property with their nose – they are most likely to be put off by the smell of damp (26%), followed by tobacco (25%) and drains (19%). Personally, I’d add to that the smell of cat urine, which was pungent in one property my wife and I looked at!

However, it’s not just the smells. Make sure your property is tidy, and in tip-top condition. You want a buyer to be able to imagine living there, not all the cleaning and redecorating they’d have to do once they moved in!

Appealing to the buyer

Of course, the other side of that coin is to ensure there is something about your house that turns the buyer on, that gets them excited about owning it.

Sadly, all buyers are different, so there’s no hard and fast rules. However, I’d definitely recommend having a read of Sell your home like a Norwegian and make thousands for great ideas on easy ways to make to make your home far more alluring, and make a few extra quid on the side!

More: A kick in the teeth for borrowers | The worst property rip-offs in the world

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