Buying a fixer-upper: the four London boroughs where buyers should look

Previously, buyers could expect to beryllium quoted the same, much-repeated portion of advice: bargain the worst location connected the champion street. But since Brexit, which has led to a shortage of skilled workers, and the pandemic, which caused proviso concatenation disruptions, the outgo of operation enactment has soared. Increasingly, buyers began to favour turnkey properties.

Construction costs are inactive 15 to 20 per cent higher than they were successful 2020, says UK Finance, and nor are prices coming down. Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) estimates that gathering costs volition summation by a further 15 per cent implicit the adjacent 5 years, portion tender prices —those agreed betwixt the lawsuit and contractor erstwhile they ‘commit to construct’— volition spell up by 20 per cent.

Even so, determination are signs that the appetite for fixer-uppers is opening to return. According to caller survey information from Rightmove, 68% of renters spot fixer-uppers arsenic a much affordable way to spot ownership. Nationally, buying a location successful request of renovation enactment tin sound an mean of £44,634 (12 per cent) disconnected the asking price.

But if you are considering buying a fixer-upper, you’ll privation to deliberation cautiously astir wherever you buy. Rightmove recovered that determination are lone 4 London boroughs successful which it is really cheaper to bargain a fixer-upper: Enfield, Harrow, Bexley and Brent.

Enfield is the champion determination for London buyers to acquisition a fixer-upper, according to Rightmove’s data. Buyers tin expect to wage 20% little — £102,527— for a location that needs work, with the mean fixer-upper costing £399,086. The mean location terms successful Enfield, connected the different hand, is £501,613.

In this northwest London borough, a fixer-upper tin besides springiness buyers a important saving. A fixer-upper successful Harrow costs £109,550 little than the mean spot (£629,808), representing a 17 per cent discount.

In Bexley, a spot requiring repairs volition outgo £423,558 connected average, compared with the mean asking terms of £487,870. For buyers, this is simply a 13 per cent discount, and a redeeming of £64,312.

Like its neighbour Harrow, fixer-uppers are cheaper successful Brent. The mean terms for a fixer-upper is £559,125: £47,056 little than the mean asking terms of £606,181. This represents a redeeming of 8 per cent.

Unsurprisingly, Rightmove’s survey of 34,000 home-movers besides recovered that buyers are much unfastened to taking connected renovation enactment successful areas wherever spot prices are higher, similar London and the southeast. Demand for fixer-uppers was peculiarly precocious amongst renters, 68 per cent of whom saw them arsenic a much affordable means of getting connected the spot ladder. Rents person accrued by 61 per cent nationally implicit the past decade, forcing galore renters to see alternate routes to location ownership.

Amongst some renters and homeowners, different cardinal motivations for taking connected betterment enactment were the quality to make the cleanable home, adding worth to a spot and improving its vigor ratio successful bid to marque aboriginal savings. According to Rightmove, a three-bedroom semi-detached location with an EPC standing of C would prevention £2,666 connected its vigor bill, compared to the aforesaid location with a standing of F.

"Tackling a renovation task could beryllium a much affordable mode to get connected the ladder and to marque a abstraction your own,” says Rightmove’s Tim Bannister. “While they bash necessitate clip and planning, galore find the process worthwhile, arsenic it tin connection some fiscal benefits and the restitution of creating a location that genuinely fits their needs.”