The Fareham Housing Market - How Is It Faring?

This month the average cost of buying a house in the UK fell for the third month in a row.  Good news for first time buyers but not great news for the property market as a whole.  Buying a house is, for most of us, a long-term investment and finding a good deal is vital – but unless you are a first time buyer you also want to get the best price you can for your place too!  So what of Fareham’s housing market?

Fareham is a desirable place to live, as one Fareham letting agent points out further down the article, but that pushes housing costs up.  Stubbington, Titchfield Park and most parts of Whitely and Locks Heath/Sarisbury are all consistently expensive places to buy or rent because they’re less central (more picturesque, less crime etc.) and the schools perform well in the league tables.  On the flipside, the Highlands and the West End of Fareham tend to offer more modest house prices.

However, even with the higher end of the price ranges lifting overall costs, Fareham’s average house price is still almost 2% below the national average. If you’re looking at neighbouring Gosport as a place to live you can drop that even further.  The average house price in Gosport is almost £40,000 less than Fareham!

But, although lower house prices can mean a bargain for first time buyers, the lending institutions are nowhere near as “generous” as they were five years ago and you can only bag a bargain if you have the money to begin with!  This is, it would seem, just one reason the rental market locally and nationally is thriving.  I spoke to Hugh White, Managing Director of Whites Independent Lettings in Fareham and he had these insightful thoughts on the lettings market:

“The lettings market in Fareham is booming with demand grossly outstripping supply as potential buyers have been put off by mortgage companies asking for higher deposits! As such, people are going down the rental route whilst the recession and financial markets sort themselves out over the next year or two.

Fareham is a very popular location for would-be tenants as it is relatively safe, has good schools and is very conveniently located for commuters. For example, you can live in Fareham but work many miles away (such as Chichester) but not be that far time-wise because Fareham is close to the M27/A27/M3/A3. With the new Hindhead Tunnel opening next summer, this should make the whole A3 corridor, including Portsmouth and Fareham, very accessible to people working in and around London.”

So - the potential for growth is there as Hugh clearly points out but everyone – from the consumer right up to the banks - is being incredibly cautious.  A new government in the midst of one of the worst recessions certainly in my life time, puts everyone on edge and that is clearly obvious of the Fareham area.

Fareham’s Austin & Wyatt offers both lettings and sales and they can also help you find and buy a property at auction - a slightly more risky method of purchase but often sees buyers get some great deals.  Cubitt & West also has a website filled with advice for buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants and one of the best guides to the minefield of the mortgage I have come across.

Fareham’s Mann Countrywide Ltd offer a “no sale no fee” guarantee which, in all honesty, is not uncommon but oddly they’re one of the few that seem to shout about it.

If you really are stuck financially, Fareham Borough Council work alongside HomesinHants to provide affordable accommodation for local people in accordance with the government’s HomeBuy initiative.  According to their website, “Homesinhants helps make home ownership in Hampshire & the Isle of Wight affordable through the HomeBuy schemes and gets people onto the first rungs of the property ladder. As well as homes to buy, we can offer homes on our Intermediate Rent scheme.”

For a comprehensive list of local agents please click here.