House Prices in Chichester Rising

I was having a discussion last week with a local accountant, and the topic of Chichester house prices came up in conversation. It is fairly common knowledge that prices generally are on the rise, however I was keen to look into local trends versus the national average. The results of which were rather interesting...

Nationally, house prices over the last 5 years have grown by 6.69%. Compare this to Chichester (PO19), which has seen a far greater increase of 9.48% - almost a whopping 30% greater than the national average. In Lehman's terms, if we were to take a three bedroom house for example, you would be looking at spending £222,200 nationally. Contrast this to a three bedroom house in Chichester, which would currently set you back £325,900.

These figures beg the question - how does this impact the rental market? Well, interestingly enough, home ownership in Chichester is over 5% lower than the national average - implying a strong private rented sector. This certainly reflects reality, as we are finding that more and more applicants are registering for rental accommodation with us, particularly from want-to-be first-time-buyers who are struggling to meet the high property values, and have decided to rent as a long term alternative to buying.