Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2008/January 2009 | Page 18

life

PROPERTY

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION MYTH OR MANTRA?
By Sam Biles MRICS FAAV - Creasey Biles & King - T: 01983 282222
Houses are bought and sold and
people move home for many
reasons - though there do not
appear to be as many reasons at
the moment as there should be!
Sometimes the reason is a family
one, the birth of a new baby,
teenagers moving out, or a death
or divorce. Sometimes the trigger
is financial - inheritance enabling
a more expensive or larger house
to be acquired or redundancy,
necessitating a smaller,
less-expensive property. Often
the reason is indeed location
driven, older people moving
closer to their grown-up children/

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grandchildren, or where there are
more services and closer shops;
moving closer to a desirable
school/catchment area or moving
to take up a new job.
The Isle of Wight is a more
location-driven property market
than many. This is because buyers
moving to the Island have to
take a very conscious decision to
do so. it can be quite a step to
place yourself on this side of the
Solent. Consequently we find
that most of our mainland buyers
have made a definite decision
to move here rather than just
loosely thinking about a move
to 'somewhere in the south of
England'. This may seem obvious
but it is something which has a
knock on effect upon values and
should be taken into account by
your agent when marketing your
property. The mainland market
can be less location-driven; many
couples decide to move out of
London to the
Home Counties
when they start
a family, it is the
commute time that
matters most to
them and they often
consider moving to
a variety of locations
from Surrey to
Hertfordshire not
so much for where
they are but because
of the accessibility
to London.
Particularly at
the top end of
the market, we
tend to find that
property buyers of
houses above £1

million have a strong Isle of Wight
connection. Either they have
a home or second home here
already; they may have been born
here or have been holidaying on
the Island for many years. It is rare
that someone buys without any
previous experience of the Island
- it is the location that drives their
purchase.
Within the Island location has
an effect upon local values. This is
not surprising as it is the age-old
‘supply and demand’ effect.
People who want to travel or
commute to the mainland want
to be near the ferries - particularly
in Cowes where buyers often say
' I must be within 5-10 minutes
walk of the Red Jet'. Parents are
very focused on distance/time for
the school run and this definitely
boosts values of, say, family
homes within 15-20 minutes of
Ryde School.
Conversely some less-good

locations which were in high
demand at the top of the property
boom are often where it has now
become hugely problematical to
sell property and where values
have been much affected. Put
simply, when the prices in the
best locations were too high for
buyers, they had to compromise
and buy in the secondary
locations, thereby inflating the
values in those locations. Now
with less demand, there are hardly
any buyers for the secondary
locations and the sellers there
are finding it hard to adjust their
expectations down to a level
where sales can once more take
place.
LOCATION is a major trigger
for property sales, LOCATION
drives most property purchases
and LO CATION has a major effect
on value. LOCATION, LOCATION,
LOCATION – mantra, not myth,
whatever the market.

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