Sheffield Houses Prices 2015, Best Estate Agents As Rated by Buyers and Sellers
Housing-Market / Sheffield Nov 28, 2015 - 06:51 AM GMTBy: N_Walayat
Sheffield is Britain's fifth largest city with an estimated current population of 575,000 that occupy's the south west quadrant of the county of South Yorkshire, part of the Yorkshire and Humber region. Sheffield given its central UK position, prominent rail and motorway links is a favourable destination for national and international migrants from nearby towns and further afield given its relatively affordable house prices, especially when compared against the South East. Sheffield has a very active housing market with over 2,500 properties on the market at any one time and with nearby Rotherham another 1,000 that generates more than £2 million in commissions annually shared out between more than 20 local estate agents.
Sheffield Housing Market - Location, Location, Location
One should not need reminding that Location is the most important determinant for house purchases. This is not just limited to which region or even which city but the locations within cities are extremely important which basically means the affluent areas and then the bordering up and coming areas. My extensive analysis of October 2013 concluded in a detailed map which identified Sheffield's most favourable locations that remains equally valid today.
31 Oct 2013 - Sheffield Best and Worst Areas to Live, House Buying Analysis Map
Sheffield's Best Places to Live
The below map details which areas of Sheffield should be avoided and which areas should be favoured in terms of the best places to live. Obviously the amount of financing available will play an important factor in determining the choice of area's, but at a minimum the RED areas should be avoided as people moving to Sheffield, purchasing a property for their own residency in a Red area will soon come to regret their decision.
The large expanse of orange area's are as a consequence of the size of Sheffield's public sector and the private sector that directly relies on it, that continues to see deep cuts in local government spending, this also means that there is a continuing large supply of properties in these areas of Sheffield which acts to depress average house prices that masks booms taking places in pockets of the city and thus offers many opportunities towards the middle end of the property market.
Meanwhile prospective home buyers can expect a huge jump in financing requirements to purchase a property in the affluent areas of the city (Dark Green) which are situated in the the South West of the city as these areas will have experienced little in terms of the impact of the economic depression with the consequences and in terms of expected house prices is that just like many areas of London, these areas are already trading near their pre-crash levels as these are the areas that will be those that are in greatest NATIONAL demand, just as many parts of London are in great INTERNATIONAL demand (as high as 50% of properties in many areas of London are bought by foreign investors).
Click here for a Large version of the Where to Live Map
In summary, prospective home buyers should take notice of the fragmented nature of the city which can make a huge differences both in terms of the quality of life, school catchment etc. However, the best areas of the city can be found to be concentrated in the South West of the city as the affluent residents continue to price most local house hunters out of these areas, just as is the case for many areas of the UK. Furthermore, the most affluent area's of the city tend to have a buffer zone of up and coming areas that acts to further the gap in house prices between relatively short distances.
What this means is that whilst the pseudo-economists (journalists) that populate the mainstream media focus on average house price trends, instead the reality is of a highly fragmented and buffered market that results in areas of Sheffield that rival anything that can be seen in the South East of England in terms of house prices, which I am sure will come as a shock to many house hunters who tend to look at the academic statistics, the averages that will FAIL to give a true picture of Sheffield's housing market for instance a 4 bedroom detached house in S11 typically starts at £400k, whereas 2 or 3 miles distance a similar sized 4 bed would typically cost less than £200k.
Sheffield House Prices
Back in Sept 2013 with Mid 2013 data my forecast for Sheffield was for average house price inflation to rise from +2% to +5.4% by Mid 2014 i.e. to under perform the then expected regional average of 7%, and as the following graph illustrates a divide of sorts was expected between affluent areas of the city and the rest.
Whilst Sheffield's average house prices did perform as expected by rising by 5%, however there was greater leverage towards the affluent areas than the deprived areas which was as a consequence of the subsequent large influx of eastern european migrants that accelerated following the 1st of Jan 2014 opening of European borders that had the effect if depressing house prices in the north and centre of the city as those who are able to move have done so towards the South and West of the city thus pushing house prices higher as I covered during 2014:
23 May 2014 - Sheffield, Rotherham Temporary House Prices Crash Triggered by New Roma Ghetto's
The consequences of which are manifesting themselves in a house prices crash in many areas as those that can move out are increasingly acting to do so by dropping their asking prices sharply lower that has acted to temporarily drag the average for the city as a whole to a -2%.
To highlight the brewing tensions, earlier this week a disturbance in Page Hall involving an estimated 50 youths has resulted injuries, several arrests and an ongoing heavy police presence. With gangs of youth and men standing on street corners for hours, then such disturbances look set to become increasingly more frequent during the hot summer months ahead though unlikely to further depress average house prices for the city as a whole where the underlying trend is one of an imminent house prices boom, which will prove quite a shocking experience for those attempting to sell from within the depressed areas and buy elsewhere in the city as the change in house prices experienced could be as much as a 30% difference!
Sheffield House Prices Forecast 2016-2018
Currently Sheffield is up just 13% on the bear market low at an average of £125k, which compares to the Y&H average of £145k up 27% and the UK average of £204k, +29%. So the capital city of the peoples republic of South Yorkshire continues to under perform the regional average, a situation that is likely to persist for several more years as Sheffield only tends to play catchup towards the last stage of a bull market. Nevertheless, going forward the spread between Y&H and Sheffield should not significantly widen and likely will see some contraction i.e. a couple of years from now Sheffield may be outperforming the Y&H average.
The updated Sheffield house prices map illustrates the average annual rate of house price inflation to expect over the NEXT 3 years, i.e. not the current rate of house price inflation but the average for the 2016, 2017 and 2018. Therefore for an approx 3 year forecast multiply the average by 3 i.e. a Sheffield city average of 7% converts into a 21% forecast rise in house prices over the next 3 years.
Another point to mention apart from the importance of location is the type of property i.e. detached properties will tend to perform the best, then semi-detached, then terraced with Flats by far the worst. In fact I would suggest to avoid buying flats in ANY location, affluent or not for reasons that I have covered at length in my 2014 Housing Market ebook (Free Download)
Sheffield Buying and Selling Homes
Home Sellers
Home sellers bewildered at the amount of choice can be easily bedazzled by estate agent tips and tricks in an attempt to hook sellers into sole selling contracts on the basis of lower fees, higher valuations and promises of promotional packages as they compete to lock you in. Therefore the decision making process of home sellers can be skewed in the wrong direction as they can become influenced by marketing hype over substance or go with lowest priced service as both can end up proving to be costly time wasting mistakes.
Worst still are those home owners who think they can sell their own homes using a myriad of cheap online DIY services, which usually turns out to be a disastrous decision because as if a home owner who has never sold a property themselves before will ever have more experience than even the worst of estate agents.
Home Buyers
House hunters are at the other end of the spectrum who have to deal with many estate agents. What house hunters are looking for from estate agents is an efficient, helpful, polite and above all honest service. However estate agents repeatedly get a bad press because many if not most tend to fail on virtually all of these points. Whilst it is true that the estate agents work in the interests of house sellers, however leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of house hunters is not going to help sell your home!
Then there is the outright dubious activities that estate agents can engage in that literally warrants an formal investigation. For instance in a real life personal example, I placed an ALL CASH offer down on a property which was according to the estate agent not accepted by the vendor only to later discover that the property had sold for a near 7% LOWER price than my offer. I am sure this was not an isolated incident and goes a long way to explain why people tend to hold estate agents in such low esteem, as clearly the lack of regulation and large sums involved can prove very tempting to the huge determinant of both sellers and buyers.
So the best source to the answer question who are the best estate agents in Sheffield (and surrounding areas such as Rotherham) is to ask those who have already been through the whole process, the buyers and sellers who have made it through to the other end and share their experience by voting on the quality of service received.
Best Sheffield Estate Agents Independant Customer Poll
The Sheffield estate agents poll has now been running for over 18 months, (poll started on 16th March 2014 - http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article44837.html) that paints a fair picture of the experience of voters and thus what one could expect in relative terms, though do bare in mind that the estate agents charge differing fees which should also be taken into account in ones decision making process.
Voting is very easy, all one need to do is pick the estate agent(s) that one has experience of and then click to rate them from 1(poor) to 10 (great). - Max 1 vote per month per estate agent.
Voting Results : 16th March 2014 to 27th Nov 2015
| Estate Agent | Average Rating (1-10) | Total Votes | Vote Now - Rate Estate Agent 1-10(best) on Quality of Service Received | |||||||||
| Spencers EA | 7.0 | 46 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Pinks Homes | 6.9 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Merry Weathers | 6.8 | 37 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Crapper Haigh | 6.8 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Fenton Board | 6.6 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| JMC EA | 6.6 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Archers | 6.3 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Blundells | 6.2 | 231 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Barton EA | 6.2 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Fairways EA Sheffield | 6.1 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Property Shop - Sheffield | 6.1 | 21 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Bairstow Eves | 6.1 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Haybrook | 6.0 | 56 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Saxton Mee | 5.7 | 74 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Winkworth | 5.5 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Reeds Rain | 4.9 | 53 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Hunters | 4.5 | 51 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| William H Brown | 4.0 | 48 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| ELR - Eadon Lockwood & Riddle | 3.9 | 96 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Your Move | 3.5 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Baldersons | Pending | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Spire Estate Agents | Pending | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Staves EA | Pending | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Note: the votes as are recorded by individual IP/ router and only count once per month per estate agent, additionally a maximum of 1 vote per hour for the same estate agent is counted and also abnormal voting activity i.e. voting spikes are also excluded thus preventing fraudulent votes. The minimum number of votes to achieve a rating is 10, and the higher the total number of votes then the more reliable the rating will be.
UK House Prices Mega-trend Forecast 2014-2018 Ebook
The UK housing market ebook is due be completed by the end of this month (March 2014) that contains extensive analysis and detailed trend forecasts. The ebook also includes extensive guides on how to buy or sell properties, value increasing home improvements, how to maintain and save money on running costs and more - ALL for FREE.
Ensure you are subscribed to my always free newsletter for my latest analysis and to be able to download the ebook for FREE on release.
However, given the time critical nature of the content excerpted analysis including the detailed trend forecasts were posted online in 2 parts on the 30th of December 2013:
- 30 Dec 2013 - UK House Prices Forecast 2014 to 2018, The Debt Fuelled Election Boom
- 30 Dec 2013 - UK House Prices Forecast 2014 to 2018, Inflation, Trend Trajectory and General Election 2015
UK House Prices Forecast 2014-2018
UK House Prices Forecast 2014 to 2018 - Conclusion
This forecast is based on the non seasonally adjusted Halifax House prices index that I have been tracking for over 25 years. The current house prices index for November 2013 is 174,671, with the starting point for the house prices forecast being my interim forecast as of July 2013 and its existing trend forecast into Mid 2014 of 187,000. Therefore this house prices forecast seeks to extend the existing forecast from Mid 2014 into the end of 2018 i.e. for 5 full years forward.
My concluding UK house prices forecast is for the Halifax NSA house prices index to target a trend to an average price of £270,600 by the end of 2018 which represents a 55% price rise on the most recent Halifax house prices data £174,671, that will make the the great bear market of 2008-2009 appear as a mere blip on the charts as the following forecast trend trajectory chart illustrates:
In terms of the current state of the UK housing bull market, the Halifax average house prices (NSA) data for Oct 2015 of £204,119 is currently showing a 4.5% deviation against the forecast trend trajectory (+17%), which if it continued to persist for the term of the 5 year forecast for a 55% rise in average UK house prices by the end of 2018 would translate into an 11% reduction in the forecast outcome to approx a 44% rise.
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By Nadeem Walayat
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Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of five ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series that can be downloaded for Free.
Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication that presents in-depth analysis from over 1000 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets, thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk
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