Guess what proportion of Oxford properties have 3 or more bedrooms?

An orthodox way of classifying property in the UK is to look at the number of bedrooms rather than its size in square metres (although now we are leaving the EU – I wonder if we can go back to feet and inches?). It seems that both homeowners and tenants are happy to pay for more space. And, typically, the more bedrooms a house or apartment has, the bigger it is likely to be, because typically properties with more bedrooms tend to have larger or more reception (living) rooms. However, if you think about it, this isn’t so astonishing given that properties with more bedrooms would typically accommodate more people and therefore require larger reception rooms. 

In today’s Oxford property market, the Oxford homeowners and Oxford landlords I talk to are always asking me which attributes and features are likely to make their property comparatively more attractive and which ones may detract from the price. Over time, buyers’ and tenants’ wants and needs have changed. In Oxford, location is still the No. 1 factor affecting the value of property, and a property in the best neighbourhoods, say Botley, Jericho or Summertown or those with proximity to a great school or major place of work can command a price 40 to 50% higher than a similar house in an ‘average’ area. However, after location, the next characteristic that has the most significant influence on the desirability, and thus price, of property is the number of bedrooms and the type (i.e. Detached/ Semi/Terraced/Flat).

In previous articles, I have analysed the Oxford housing stock into bedrooms and type of property, but never before now have I cross-referenced type against bedrooms. These figures for the Oxford City Council area make fascinating reading. It shows 76.2% of all properties in the area have 3 or more bedrooms.

I was genuinely surprised at the low numbers of one and two bed properties, especially 2 bed semis detached houses, especially as tenants like smaller one and two bed properties in Oxford. You see, it might interest the homeowners and landlords of Oxford, that there has been a change in the numbers of properties on the market and the split in bedrooms on the market over the last 12 months.

For several years Oxford buy-to-let investors have been pretty much only buyers at the lower end (starter homes) of the market, enticed by high tenant demand and attractive returns. Some Oxford landlords believe their window of opportunity has started to close with the new tax regime for landlords, whilst it already appears to be opening wider for first-time buyers. This is great news for first time buyers who can scrape together the sizable deposit needed to get in to the Oxford property market.  One final note for Oxford landlords - all is not lost - you can still pick up bargains if you are prepared to buy a property in need of work, you just need to be a increasingly savvy and do your homework to ensure the project costs plus the purchase price will allow a decent yield.  One source of such information with articles like this is the Oxford Property Blog www.OxfordPropertyBlog.co.uk