The lowdown from Stephen Magee, director of Winkworth in Worthing.
What’s your patch like?
It’s pretty mixed! The demographic has changed a lot in the last few years. It used to be a typical seaside town with an older age group, but now it’s a mix, with lots of young families moving here from Brighton and Hove, and more recently London. It used to be older buyers from Surrey, now it’s local people trading up from Brighton for more space.Our patch is large, taking in big houses in Goring as well as townhouses in Worthing.
How’s the local property market performing at the moment?
House sales are getting agreed pretty quickly, and thanks to a lack of stock we’re seeing transactions taking a long time because vendors can’t find somewhere to buy. We’ve got properties that have been under offer since July last year. If buyers can’t wait I’ll have someone else lined up, and we’ll sell it for more without going back to market. And at the top end of the market – for us that’s about £900,000 plus – we’re getting about 10-15 enquiries a week, which is what we used to get in a year. I just sold something today at £1.65m without going to market. A few years ago these houses would have sat on the market and people would have questioned that amount of money. Not any more.
What advice would you give to sellers?
I’d say put your property on now - there are plenty of buyers around! Some people are worried about being pressured to move once their house is under offer - but you should let the agent manage the buyer’s expectations. Most buyers are sellers so they understand that there’s a real shortage of stock.
Why should people think about moving to Worthing and what kind of housing stock is there?
It’s a town that has a great seafront. Sister to Brighton and Hove – it’s a bit cheaper but definitely catching up. A lot of people bypass Brighton, saying it’s busy, dirty and noisy and you can’t park. Worthing is a town, not a city, but it’s only 10 miles from Hove and offers a quieter lifestyle. If you’re selling a mid terrace in Hove for £600,000 you can go up £200,000 and get a five bedroom detached house. It’s pretty established now – buyers now always seem to know someone who’s already moved here, and there are nice restaurants and popups on the beach. Stock is a mix of modern and period. There are Georgian townhouses, Edwardian and Victorian properties in the centre of town - then houses from the 30s, 40s and 50s in the suburbs, and older houses further away in the South Downs.
What trends are you seeing among buyers and sellers?
The phone rang off the hook when we came back from lockdown. People who’d never even been to Worthing were offering on properties, all of them wanting to get out of London. Since then it’s slowed down but there’s still demand from people looking for more space and gardens. We’re not really taking flats on unless they’ve got gardens – even if they’ve got sea views. Londoners want to come to the seaside and have a big garden and a driveway. There are a lot of first time buyers looking for houses around the the 500k mark where they can work from home.
What are your predictions for 2022?
It’s going to be tight for stock, and with the latest interest rate rise, who knows? The upper end of the market won’t be affected, a lot of it is cash from more expensive areas. But it will hit the first time buyer. Prices are continuing to rise – we sold a house for £875,000 during the pandemic, then sold it again for £1.175m two years later - and the same buyers came to look at it again, not having found anywhere in the meantime. We’ve got bidding wars on rentals too as people are desperate to sell their house chain-free.
Current best buys
A nice Georgian house in Ambrose Place has just come on at £900,000 chain-free. It’s a smaller house on one of the best roads. We recently sold Harold Pinter’s house there with its plaque and next door just agreed at 1.7million, which was a record. We’re just about to put another house on in Lansdowne Road for £975,000 that can be extended, making it a good buy. We’re doing an open day and it’ll probably go within 48 hours.
Five bedroom house in Ambrose Place, Worthing, £900,000; Winkworth Worthing 01903 216219 – this Grade II listed house in Worthing’s best Regency terrace has lots of period details and a beautiful sunny garden.
Five bedroom house in Ambrose Place, Worthing, £1.6m; Winkworth Worthing 01903 216219 – this one has an impressive glass box extension, a cinema room and a luxurious modern finish.
This three bedroom house in Graham Road, Worthing has just gone under offer – marketed at £675,000 it’s a handsome period home with lots of character, a good-sized garden and spacious rooms.
