Island Life Magazine Ltd October/ November 2012 | Page 24

PROPERTY

Property issues with Richard Dickson of Hose Rhodes & Dickson

Golden Memories
I have not been in the
business for as long
as the Queen’s reign,
although it feels like it
on the odd occasion! I
can’t boast 60 years but
next year I will have
been selling houses on
the Island for a golden
50 years. In this Jubilee
year I thought it might
be interesting to look
back over my decades in
the business and beyond,
to 1952 when Queen
Elizabeth II came to the
throne.
In the early 1960s
a new two-bedroom
bungalow was under
£2000; today the same
bungalow would sell
for around £200,000.
Even taking inflation
into account this must have been a
staggeringly good investment.
One of the first houses I sold at
auction was in 1965 (Vestry Cottage,
St Lawrence) when I dropped the
hammer at £1,550. We sold it again
this year at around £200,000. During
the Queen’s reign, despite considerable
fluctuation in values, house prices have
grown by about 250 per cent over the
rate of inflation.
Despite mortgage rationing in the
late 1950s and 60s it was probably
easier then to obtain a mortgage than
today. One of the best and easiest
sources of mortgage finance was the
local authority. I can remember the
Ventnor Urban District Council
offering rates as low as two per cent
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for first time buyers. Obviously there
are still competitive rates available,
but it seems to be more difficult than
ever for the first time buyer to meet
the stringent criteria set by building
societies and get on the housing
ladder.
The enormous activity of new
building in the 1960s and 70s by
relatively small local builders has sadly
almost disappeared, and we are relying
more and more on the national house
builder to supply new homes. This
very much restricts choice and also
architectural flair and style.
The current crop of new homes takes
no account whatsoever for the family
wanting adequate accommodation
with space outside for children to play.
Government policy, in my view, has

been totally wrong in demanding far
too many properties to the hectare,
creating a cramped urban environment
to the detriment of our housing
heritage.
To be fair, the quality of our new
homes has improved beyond measure
over the last 60 years, reflecting the
comfortable way in which most of
us live, with central heating, double
glazing and indoor toilets.
It is all too easy to look back on
the past with rose tinted spectacles,
and I am very aware of the enormous
changes we have seen for the better
over the last 60 years. However, I
cannot help but think that perhaps
there are still one or two lessons we
could learn from our grandfathers.