If the temperature and climate trends are anything to go by, the summers and surrounding months are only going to get hotter, particularly the further south and east you go. So, it’s understandable that some who are currently in particularly warm homes are looking to move to cooler living conditions. Here are some things to know about the current market and what to look for in a cooler home.
A market fit for buyers
A lot has been made of the UK housing market over the last three years. Temperature and weather has a lot to do with when sales happen as well as which properties sell throughout the year, as people prefer to attend viewings and move belongings in preferential conditions. That said, the bigger picture is also worth considering.
The economic shifts in Autumn 2022 were followed by very slight but mostly continued gains, and then some major changes came in to impact many property owners and movers. Landlords had to follow some new rules, second-home owner started getting double-taxed, and the stamp duty brackets shifted. This has resulted in more housing stock being available but fewer residential transactions taking place.
Buyers currently have the power in many places, it seems. People looking to sell are finding the market to be very competitive and, if they want to move on quickly, needing to be flexible on their pricing. In some places the average discount on final prices is as much as 20 per cent or even higher. If you’re someone looking to sell and then buy as part of your search for cooler climates, there can be further complications that can lead to chain breaks even after a reduced sale price has been agreed.
There is now a way in the UK to come into the house-buying side of the property market without a chain, or even needing to negotiate the sale of your existing property. If I wanted to sell my flat fast, cash buyers could be a prime way of going about it. People who use this route can get a fair valuation of their property, have all of the legal fees and processes covered, and get the cash in a matter of weeks, rather than months. It’s an avenue to consider for anyone who wants to move quickly to escape the worst days of summer haze.
Features of cooler houses
While you can get an energy performance certificate for any property you’d like to buy, knowing exactly how well insulated it is isn’t always easy. The EPC can be an indicator, with better scores meaning that the house will likely be warmer in the summer. Still, it’s a good idea to go viewing in the summer, in the afternoon hours when you’ll get a good sense for just how warm a home will be.
One of the more structural factors that you can recognise in an instant that will impact how warm a home will be is its alignment. In a house and especially a flat, the extent to which a room directly faces the sun will impact light intake and, subsequently, heat. South-facing houses in the UK are considered to be warmer because of how they get the most sunlight throughout the day. Thus, it’s the north-facing houses that are usually the coolest. Even in houses generally oriented towards the sun, it’ll be the north-facing side that’ll stay coolest.
While you should be weighing in the energy-saving potential of having a warmer home in the winter, it’s generally much easier to warm up than it is to cool down. So, it might be worth exploring the overstuffed market to see if you can find a nice in between for your next home, be it a house or a flat.