Should you sell or should you buy in this most interesting Brighton property market?
I have calculated that at least 207 Brighton house sellers have rented a home to break their house chain in the last 12 months, although at a cost as they face paying many thousands of pounds in rent.
There are a number of reasons behind this. One is because they cannot find another Brighton property to buy amidst a continuing shortage of new Brighton properties coming to the market. Although, there are others who have achieved such a high price for their home they have decided to cash in and are (hopefully for them) waiting for the Brighton property market drop?
Or will it drop? (More on that later).
Those selling their home have seen the average Brighton home rise in value in the last 12 months by £5,500.
Yet, if they have had to go into private renting, they have paid for that privilege in the rent they have had to pay.
The average cost of a six-month rental agreement in Brighton is £10,546, meaning accidental Brighton tenants have pumped £2,183,115 into the Brighton rental market in the last 12 months.
The unevenness between the number of properties for sale and demand for them is at its widest since the early 2000’s. Whilst we have seen a slight improvement in the number of properties for sale in Brighton, there are still 40% fewer homes up for sale today in Brighton, compared to August last year.
This serious shortage of Brighton property for sale is discouraging some hesitant Brighton homeowners from putting their property on to the housing market, anxious they will not be able to find their next home and will be left renting.
Yet some savvy Brighton homeowners are moving into a rented property as a way to navigate the shortage of properties to buy. If you have someone offering you top dollar for your Brighton home, whilst you will have the hassle of two moves, the increase in value of your Brighton home will more than offset the rent.
Also, when you come to buy your next Brighton home, you will be chain free and in pole position to buy your ‘forever home’, rather than being overlooked for the home because you are sold stc and burdened with a chain.
Yet this trend has made life tougher for long-term Brighton tenants.
On average there were normally 1,200 to 1,350 properties available to rent in Brighton on Rightmove at any one time (pre-pandemic), today there are only 598 available.
To give you an idea of how this has affected the Brighton rental market, with heightened demand and lower supply, demand for rental properties has grown to such an extent the average rent in Brighton has grown from £1,758 per month a year ago to £1,930 per month today.
Tenants are suffering from less choice and higher rents in the Brighton property rental market, with few indications it’s going to significantly ease on the run up to Christmas.