Londoners do the most virtual curtain twitching say Zoopla
We’re a little bit curious here at Zoopla and we believe the key to buying, selling or renting a home is having the right property related information. Not just general information, but specific, detailed and contextual information.
Even if you’re just looking; it’s the facts that matter. Being in the know, doing your research and gathering as much information as possible is the smart thing to do.
The constant stream of conflicting house price reports makes it hard for property owners to make sense of what is really happening in their local housing markets. Monitoring the value of an individual property as well as staying on top of local market statistics and recent sold prices is easy with Zoopla.co.uk. Whether buying, selling or staying put, it pays to do your research and gather as much information as possible before making any property-related decision.
So, we did a little research of our own which reveals London as the curtain twitching capital of Britain. In London more residents monitor the value of their neighbour’s homes online than anywhere else in the country. Meanwhile, Bournemouth comes out on top for having the highest proportion of informed homeowners, regularly tracking the value of their own properties online.
Here are the top ten most and least ‘knowsey’ neighbours. In other words, those most (and least) informed about the values of their neighbour’s homes…perhaps the British should be regarded as ‘knowsey’ rather than ‘nosey’?”
BRITAIN’S KNOWSIEST NEIGHBOURS
| Rank | Town | Avg. property value | Knowsiness Index* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | £412,448 | 157.7 |
| 2 | Reading | £277,103 | 145.3 |
| 3 | Milton Keynes | £203,029 | 128.8 |
| 4 | Aberdeen | £208,105 | 120.1 |
| 5 | Cambridge | £292,512 | 113.6 |
| 6 | Bristol | £215,539 | 110.8 |
| 7 | York | £220,180 | 109.8 |
| 8 | Southampton | £213,960 | 105.9 |
| 9 | Stockport | £188,623 | 104.3 |
| 10 | Northampton | £183,431 | 103.7 |
BRITAIN’S LEAST KNOWSEY NEIGHBOURS
| Rank | Town | Avg. property value | Knowsiness Index* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | £142,079 | 55.8 |
| 2 | Hull | £110,803 | 56.5 |
| 3 | Wolverhampton | £155,752 | 62.7 |
| 4 | Rotherham | £121,737 | 64.5 |
| 5 | Manchester | £138,371 | 69.7 |
| 6 | Doncaster | £129,021 | 72.0 |
| 7 | Newcastle | £173,043 | 73.4 |
| 8 | Wigan | £135,698 | 74.0 |
| 9 | Leicester | £165,931 | 74.9 |
| 10 | Nottingham | £150,947 | 75.1 |
Source: Zoopla.co.uk - *100 is UK average knosiness based on valuations run relative to number of homes
As always, please feel free to share and use this information, all we ask is that you credit the source as Zoopla.co.uk and link to either Zoopla.co.uk or blog.zoopla.co.uk. Thank you.
Zoopla Poll: Users suggest offering 10% below asking price
Related links: Asking prices reduced in the run up to Christmas
Are you a registered user of Zoopla? Are you a little bit curious when it comes to property matters? Then why not suggest a poll for us to run live on the Zoopla.co.uk website?
As a registered user of Zoopla you can suggest any property related poll to test the market, find out what those active in the property market are currently thinking or research a specific topic you’re curious about.
Suggest a poll here (right hand side) and we’ll consider making it live on Zoopla today.
As always, please feel free to share and use this information, all we ask is that you credit the source as Zoopla.co.uk and link to either Zoopla.co.uk or blog.zoopla.co.uk. Thank you.
Is Rooney to blame or bad taste?
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
Man U and England defender Wes Brown has dropped the asking price on his Cheshire mansion because he thinks no one wants Wayne Rooney as a neighbour. The Sun newspaper has reported that Brown, 31, believes wealthy potential buyers looking in this area are more discreet and would not want to buy next to the Rooneys because Wayne attracts too much media attention.
Brown blames Rooney for having to drop more than £500k off the £4.5 million price tag after the property has not shifted in six months. However, we think there’s a different reason for the struggle to sell - Brown helped design this five bedroom mansion and it takes bling to another level.
Here are just a few of the rather unique features:
- Glass ceiling in the pool room / glass floor in the kitchen. Brown reportedly would swim back stroke and wave to his wife when she was in the kitchen:
- Jacuzzi room – off the master bedroom a ‘Teuco Seaside Jacuzzi’ sits in the middle of the room – complete with illuminated stone steps and an AquaTelevision. There is a also an eight person Jacuzzi in the pool room – which leads to a gym – which leads to a ‘plant room’:
- Purple velvet cinema room:
- Cast iron staircase with glass multi droplet chandelier ‘dominating the space like a cascading waterfall’:
- His n’ hers walk-in wardrobes with faux level detailing and leading to a wet room.
We think these bling-tastic design features are more appealing to those wanting to live the WAG lifestyle and this type of buyer would be keen to add Rooney neighbours to the bling list.
The property, Waterside, is now on the market for £3,950,000.
C4′s Million Pound Drop featuring Zoopla
A little earlier this year we revealed that there may be much more to the name of the ‘street’ or ‘road’ or ‘avenue’ where you live than meets the eye…and that choosing wisely may have a significant impact on the value of your home.
Well, five months later and our research makes up one of the questions (as per above) on Channel 4′s: Million Pound Drop – the show where contestants are given their prize – £1 million – at the start of the show. All they have to do is keep it…
Not only was this the final episode in the second series, but it was the charity version featuring contestants Jimmy Carr and former Big Breakfast host and DJ Johnny Vaughan.
Here’s the link to the video (episode 9 on 13th November at 54.30mins in), we’ll leave it to you to find out what happened next…
Take yourself out of the property picture
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
Few of us would admit it but there moments in our day-to-day existence when we have Google’s Street View to thank for an easier time of it.
Maybe it’s when you are house hunting here on FindaProperty (we offer a Street View of each address where possible) or maybe just working out exactly where Boots is on your local high street.
But, despite the extraordinary convenience Street View offers, some people don’t like pictures of themselves taken by the Google camera cars splurged all over the internet – particularly if they are outside their homes.
But fret not. A student has developed software that can remove you from Street View.
Now you see her…
Computer science graduate student Arturo Flores from the University of California, San Diego, has developed a system that removes pedestrians and replaces the holes in the images with an approximation of the background behind them – leaving a slightly disconcerting ghostly ripple where the person was.
…now you don’t
But only the person is taken out, with hilarious consequences. Umbrellas are left floating in the air (see above), dogs being walked by their owners look like strays and houses with people standing outside are left looking abandoned – or haunted.
The system developed by Flores could also end up taking out some of the more colourful scenes caught on camera recently including a group of ‘superheroes’ on a stag do, a Wayne’s World lookalike and musician Nate Heagy, who posed for the Google camera as it went past to publicise his music.
Zoopla Poll: Green front doors offer the most kerb appeal
Are you a registered user of Zoopla? Are you a little bit curious when it comes to property matters? Then why not suggest a poll for us to run live on the Zoopla.co.uk website?
As a registered user of Zoopla you can suggest any property related poll to test the market, find out what those active in the property market are currently thinking or research a specific topic you’re curious about.
Suggest a poll here (right hand side) and we’ll consider making it live on Zoopla today.
Asking prices reduced in the run up to Christmas
For the past few months, asking prices have been somewhat out of kilter with what buyers are prepared or can afford to pay, but sellers are becoming increasingly realistic. The traditional New Year influx of properties for sale coming to the market will mean even more competition among sellers and many are keen to try to secure a buyer this side of Christmas and are lowering their expectations accordingly. As a result, now is a great time for buyers to try to land a bargain.
Our latest research shows that:
- Number of ‘discounted’ properties for sale has increased by 13% over last 3 months
- A further £500m has been slashed off UK asking prices since August of this year
- Average reduction of 6.1% (£15,879) from initial asking price, 8% on properties over £1 million
- Swindon has the highest percentage of ‘reduced’ properties on market
- Manchester has the highest average discount on properties for sale
We firmly believe research is the key to the best property related decisions. So, when doing your research don’t forget to use our unique ‘sort by most reduced‘ feature on Zoopla allowing you to hunt for bargains by sorting properties by how much the price has been reduced by.
Here are the top 10 areas with highest number of price-reduced properties:
1. Swindon – 49.5% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.14% or £10,299
£279,995 – detached house, 7 bedrooms - down 28.2% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Swindon
2. Norwich – 46.8% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.92% or £12,478
£375,000 – 7 bedrooms – down 25% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Norwich
3. Bournemouth – 45.9% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.74% or £14,306
Offers over £299,950 – 3 bedroom, semi-detached – down 14.3% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Bournemouth
4. Northampton – 45.8% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.68% or £11,242
£372,000 – 3 bedrooms – down 13.5% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Northampton
5. Leicester – 45.3% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.93% or £10,178
£250,000 – 4 bedroom bungalow – down 39% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Leicester
6. Poole – 44.4% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.14%or £20,877
£1,950,000 – 4 bedroom house – down 15% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Poole
7. Birmingham – 44.2% of listings have had an average price reduction of 6.65% or £10,533
£189,950 – 4 bedroom, semi-detached – down 17.4% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Birmingham
8. Bristol - 44.0% of listings have had an average price reduction price reduction of 6.77% or £15,035
£169,950 – 2 bedroom flat – down 21% since first listed
Find more reduced properties for sale in Bristol
9. Exeter – 43.7% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.60% or £15,983
£374,995 – 5 bedroom detached house – down 11.8% since first listed
Find more reduced property for sale in Exeter
10. Coventry – 43.6% of listings have had an average price reduction of 5.87% or £13,088
£174,950 – 2 bedroom flat – down 12.1% since first listed
Find more reduced property for sale in Coventry
*Price reductions are based on all properties listed for sale on Zoopla.co.uk as at 1st November 2010 and include all price reductions since the property was first listed for sale on Zoopla.co.uk.
As always, please feel free to share and use this information, all we ask is that you credit the source as Zoopla.co.uk and link to either Zoopla.co.uk or blog.zoopla.co.uk. Thank you.
