West Midlands Buyers Enjoy Space

While space has always been important in the property market, it has become indispensable in recent months. The impact of lockdown has caused many people to re-evaluate what is important to them at home, and space is absolutely crucial.

At Innovate, we have spoken with many buyers and vendors of late. The importance of space cannot be overstated, and it is something to consider if you are venturing in the property market over the rest of the year, or next year.

There is good news for buyers in the West Midlands, and this comes in the form of a study carried out by a self-storage expert company, Space Station.

Their findings indicate property buyers in the West Midlands can afford to buy double the floorspace that buyers in the South East of England can.

Not all homes are the same!

The study examined 650 live property ads priced between GBP230,000 and GBP240,000. This is around the average price paid for homes in the country, but the finding suggests there is a wide range of homes on offer at this price.

The size of home, and features such as in-built storage, garage space and utility rooms have a significant impact on the amount of space on offer to a homeowner.

The average size of homes for this price bracket is 81.6 square metres, but buyers in the West Midlands receive around 30% more space at home. This is because the average amount of room in West Midlands homes is 104.92 square metres.

Find value for money in homes

Buyers in Yorkshire and the Humber can also enjoy space for their money, with an average of 98.5 square metres. However, as you would expect, it is a very different story in the capital. In London, the average space is 45.75 square metres. Also, buyers in the capital are less likely to have a garage or utility space, and in-built storage is significantly reduced too.

Vlatka Lake, the Marketing Manager at Space Station, said: “Our research really highlights the space and built-in storage you can get for your money, with some interesting findings. It’s great to see that more than half of the homes in Yorkshire and the Humber come with a garage space, as this is often a well sought-after feature. However, there’s also a clear north/south divide at play here, which we can see from the amount of space on offer in southern homes versus those up north.”

Vlatka also said; “Having more space is of course more appealing for many buyers, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a deal-breaker. There are plenty of innovative storage solutions people can use to make use of every inch of the home, even for some of those tiny London apartments - some of which we found to be as little as just 21 square metres!”

We know these are challenging times, but at Innovate, we are here to help. If you have questions about the West Midlands property and rental market, get in touch with Innovate, and we will be happy to assist you.