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Surrey - a good place to live
With its proximity to London and beautiful
countryside Surrey has for long been a desirable place
to live.
Today Surrey also boasts:
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Excellent international links -easy reach
of Heathrow, Gatwick and Eurostar. |
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Good road connections - the M25,
which sweeps across the north of Surrey, links with the national
motorway network |
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Good schooling (state, private and
international). |
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An outstanding range of beautiful
houses. |
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Thousands of acres of woods and heathland,
many of which are freely accessible for public enjoyment. Surrey
is the most densely wooded county in England. |
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The lowest crime rate of any county
in England. |
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Great sporting opportunities – horseracing,
horse-riding, tennis, village cricket and more golf courses
than any other English county. |
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Quality shopping. |
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A wealth of dining experiences. |
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It’s not surprising therefore that homes in
Surrey are much in demand. Indeed, apart from London, Surrey
has on average the most expensive property in the UK. Of course,
this is bad news for home buyers but on the positive side
this also means that Surrey property has proved to be an excellent
long-term investment.
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Surrey
People
What kind of people live in Surrey?
Usually when journalists refer to Surrey they sloppily use the outdated cliche "Surrey's stockbroker belt" which refers back to the early part of the last century when affluent City professionals commuted by train from large mock
Tudor houses in Surrey and enjoyed a privileged lifestyle - playing
golf, (the wife played tennis) superintending the gardener
and driving the Jaguar or Bentley to the local pub for
a gin and tonic. Maybe this stereotype did once exist
in vast numbers, but no longer, and today you are as likely
to find a very different type of wealthy person living
down a Surrey lane. There are pop stars ( Eric Clapton
at Ewhurst, Ringo Starr at Cranleigh, Mick Hucknall
at Walton-on-Thames, Brian May at West End) media celebrities (Michael
Caine at Leatherhead, Judi Dench at Outwood and glamour model, Jordan, at Woldingham) and sport
superstars ( Jimmy White in Cobham, Colin Montgomerie and Jamie Redknap
in Oxshott, Sir Geoff Hurst in Weybridge). Lots of Chelsea Football Club players, including John Terry, the England football captain, have moved into the environs of Cobham, following the establishment of their training ground in the town. Surrey even has a smattering of royals -
Prince Edward (the Queen’s youngest son) and his
wife live at Bagshot Park near Woking.
The same qualities that attract celebrities
(large houses in private settings and excellent transport
communications with London and the rest of the world)
also attract successful business people from around
the globe. The
ACS International Schools at Cobham and Egham (with
students from nearly 50 nationalities) and TASIS The
American School in England at Thorpe act as magnets
for foreigners needing to buy or rent near London, but
wanting to live somewhere quieter and greener. Today
there are large numbers of American, Scandinavian, German,
Dutch, Far Eastern, Italian (particularly at Woking)
and now even Russian residents in key areas of Surrey.
As a result there can be something of a cosmopolitan
atmosphere, and in shops in places like Cobham or Esher
you are as likely to hear a foreign accent or a foreign
language as an English voice.
Towns near the M25, such as Guildford, Chertsey and Leatherhead, have grown as major business centres in their own right, and major companies have moved into new European headquarters in Surrey. The county has a surprisingly high global profile in the international computer and technology industries. Thus while once Surrey was a domitory county, whose residents had to commute to London to earn high salaries, this is no longer the case, and many highly-paid Surrey residents now work within the county.
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Surrey
- North versus South
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|  Surrey
has a variety of different identities and there is a
marked difference between the north and the south of
the county. Much of north-eastern Surrey has been swallowed
up by London, so that the towns of Richmond, Kingston,
Sutton, Merton, and Croydon are now London Boroughs,
though they are still geographically in Surrey. These
areas are either urban or suburban with high density
housing, but some do have pockets of green open spaces
(in the case of Richmond Park an extremely large pocket).
The further south you go in the county, the more rural
and greener it becomes. In general, south of the greater
London boundary, it is a leafier, more spacious environment;
and south of the M25, the landscape becomes even more
expansive, with a rolling countryside that is dotted
by small and often very pretty villages.
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| Surrey
towns and villages
Surrey’s major towns in general still manage
to retain distinctive personalities; the southern towns of
Guildford, Farnham, Dorking, Haslemere and Reigate have county
town atmospheres. Richmond, Guildford and Woking are particularly
strong on cultural pursuits and are well supplied with the
usual range of shops and retail chains. Kingston and Croydon
provide a huge choice of retailers, including large department
stores, while Richmond aims to be a trendier, more exclusive
shopping experience. Guildford, Dorking, Farnham and Reigate
retain a slightly more old-fashioned approach and more independent
shops, although Guildford (now a thriving employment centre
in its own right) has a sophisticated edge.
Surrey is renowned for having some of the prettiest, and
most photographed, villages in England, typically set
around a large green, with an assortment of mellow,
period houses often accompanied by an ancient church.
Brockham, Chiddingfold, Dunsfold, Shere and Shamley
Green are among the most picturesque villages. In some
villages an old-fashioned community spirit persists.
Creeping suburbanisation has ravaged many other former
villages but vestiges of former charms can still be
seen in places such as Ewell, Carshalton, Merstham ,
Godstone and Shepperton. |
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KINGSTON
TOWN CENTRE
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CHIDDINGFOLD
GREEN
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Road/Rail/Air
Road Communications
Today we are so much dependent on the car that
our daily living patterns are often determined by the road systems near our homes. Surrey enjoys some good
fast roads, but as it is an affluent county, traffic flows
on Surrey roads are almost twice the national average. All
over the county, former quiet residential roads that can provide
alternative access to towns and villages, or to key routes,
are now heavy with traffic. Indeed, the junctions in such
residential roads are often clogged with lengthy traffic queues
during the rush hour.
The efficiency of the road network varies enormously
across the county with many A roads passing through towns
and villages, rather than skirting them. In general, the west
and centre of the county has a better road network than the
east of Surrey
The M25 sweeps through the north of the
county for fast access to the national motorway network (in
particular the M4,M3,M40, M1, M20,M26, M23 and M11, Heathrow
and Gatwick ). Of course the M25 can become horribly
conjested and is notorious for traffic jams caused by accidents
and road works. The section between junction 9 and Heathrow
(dual four to six lanes) is one of the busiest roads in Europe.
The M23 connects the M25 directly and
quickly with Gatwick airport. The M3 cuts through
the north west of the county with just three junctions in
Surrey. It provides efficient access to Hampshire and the
south-west of England (very popular at weekends) but its northern
termination at Sunbury is often traffic-locked.
The A3 which runs out of London and south-west
through the county towards Hampshire feels like a motorway
with its three lanes sweeping past towns. When it has
free-flowing traffic, it is an extremely good, fast
route to and from London, but it is very busy in peak
hours and there can be hold-ups. Where the A3 meets
the southern fringe of Surrey at Hindhead, major construction works are now under way to build a new road incorporating two tunnels beneath the Devil's Punch Bowl (an area of great natural beauty and of Special Scientific Interest) The work is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2011.
The A31 connects
Farnham and Guildford via an effective dual carriageway.
The A30 running along the north east borderland
of Surrey is generally a quick road. The Blackwater
Valley Route (A331) in the far east of the
county links Camberley and Frimley with Farnham and
is often mistaken for a motorway.
Nearer the centre of the county the A24
south of Leatherhead is another good fast road which travels
towards Sussex and the south coast. Emerging from greater
London, the A217 south of Sutton is a dual or three
lane carriageway as far as the M25.
With the exception of the above roads, many
of the so-called A roads are single carriageways and are not
particularly quick. In general, because of the density of
the population and the high ratio of cars to people, most
of the north of the county is prone to traffic congestion.
In the south of the county the roads are emptier, but away
from the major routes mentioned above they are slower and
meandering; it can often take an unexpectedly long time to
cover a relatively short distance, especially in the Surrey
Hills. Many villages in the south do not have quick access
to fast roads.
Rail Communications
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CLICK ON MAP FOR ENLARGED IMAGE
The coming of the railway in the nineteenth century was not
met with universal delight and consequently the locations
of some railroutes and stations are idiosyncratic rather than
logical. For example, since Surbiton, instead of the much
bigger town of Kingston, gained the main line station, the
result is that today Surbiton, rather than Kingston, has the
faster and more frequent train journey to London. If travel
to London via train is an important criterion for house hunters,
it is essential to check services and journey times, since
sometimes locations further out can have faster train access
to London than stations that are actually nearer the capital
(e.g. trains from Chessington, part of greater London, take
35 minutes to Waterloo whereas a fast train from Woking, much
further out to the south-west, can take only 29 minutes to
Waterloo). Wimbledon, Surbiton, Guildford, Woking, Richmond
and Staines are stations blessed with extremely frequent train
services to London.
London terminus stations that can be accessed from
Surrey - Waterloo, Victoria, London Bridge
& Charing Cross. Many lines also stop at Vauxhall. Thameslink
trains pass through the north-east fringes of Surrey (now
part of greater London). Thus Redhill and East Croydon stations
connect via Thameslink with London Bridge, Farringdon and
Kings Cross. Sutton, Carshalton, Mitcham, St.Helier, Morden,
South Merton and Wimbledon connect with Blackfriars, Farringdon
and Kings Cross. Note that theAnglia Railways service on the map has been discontinued. Stations in the west of
Surrey are linked to West London e.g. Hounslow.
In addition to the above railway map, Virgin Trains operates
a limited service that connects Guildford with the Midlands
and the North, as well as Portsmouth and Gatwick.
For detailed information on timetables see the websites
for South West Trains,
South
Central, Thames
Trains, Anglia
Railways and Virgin
Trains, or UK
Rail Information.
The London Underground -The towns of Richmond and
Wimbledon are on the London Underground District Line, while
Morden and South Wimbledon are on the Northern Line.
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Airports
Surrey is extremely well placed for access to international
and national flights. London’s Heathrow airport
sits just to the north-west of Surrey, while London’s
second airport, Gatwick, is just to the south-east of
the county. There are fast motorway communications to
both airports.
What's that Noise?
It is often said that it is almost impossible
to escape the distant (or not so distant) hum of traffic in
Surrey. There is also aircraft noise to contend with, especially
for people living under the flightpaths of Gatwick and Heathrow
- both these major airports are adjacent to Surrey's boundary.
The blackspots for aircraft noise are in the north-west and
south-east of the county – places such as Staines and Richmond
upon Thames in the north-west and Charlwood in the south-east.
Under the latest thirty-year plan for UK air travel, further expansion is decreed for Heathrow but the Government has decided that there will be no new runway at Gatwick until after 2019 and then only if environmental factors prevent the proposed new runway at Heathrow. In March 2004 the British Airports Authority published a draft plan for Gatwick's future growth. This includes a large increase in passengers and the possibility of a second runway, the latter not until after 2019.
There are also small aerodromes at Redhill and Chobham.
For home buyers parcticularly concerned about aircraft noise, Surreyhomesearch has access to detailed flightpath maps for both Heathrow and Gatwick which are available to clients. www.surreyhomesearch.com
The proposal to build a train
freightline beside the M25 looks as if it has been squashed after the scheme failed to get Government support. The freightline would have impacted on areas alongside the the M25 and
included a nine-mile tunnel to the north of Leatherhead
emerging at Merstham. Local groups had protested against the proposal which was showing up in property searches undertaken during conveyancing for homes within 200 metres (670ft approx) of the route.
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Property Types
| If there was ever
such a thing as a traditional Surrey house style it was perhaps
best captured in Helen Allingham’s late 19th century paintings
of rural cottages (above, click
on image for enlargement). Though very romanticised, her houses
were real ones; the paintings were the artist’s way of recording
beautiful old buildings for posterity. Some of these picturesque
timber-frame houses with their steeply-pitched, clay-tiled roofs
can still be found in more rural, southern parts of Surrey though
many are now unfortunately on busy main roads.
One of England’s most celebrated architects, Edwin
Lutyens (1869 -1944) developed the Surrey vernacular style at
the end of the nineteenth century and he built a number of stunning
houses in Surrey, mostly south of Guildford, which are highly
sought after and very expensive. Many of them had gardens designed
by Gertrude Jekyll , England's most famous plantswoman, who
lived at Munstead Wood near Godalming, in one of Lutyens' earliest
houses.
The Lutyens' Surrey style – sweeping roofs
and soaring chimneys, tile hanging, multiple gables, leaded
lights, exposed timbering and handcrafted details – became
hugely influential and was copied around the world. Other
architects working in the first half of the twentieth
century (for example Baillie Scott and Blair Imrie ) also
designed in the Surrey vernacular and these kinds of houses
are fairly common in Surrey, especially in and around
Guildford, Esher, Weybridge and West Byfleet.
This Surrey style became so popular, developers
adopted it in the 1930s using some of its most basic elements
for building houses en masse. The word "tudorbethan"
was coined by detractors as a term of abuse to describe modern
pastiches of the Surrey style. Surrey has an abundance of tudorbethan
suburban houses, both detached and semi-detached, and while
architectural purists may knock them, many home buyers still
love them. |
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Surrey
is not blessed with many genuine Georgian period houses (1714-1837)
whether detached or terraced. However, most towns and
villages have at least one good example of a detached
Georgian house in a pleasing, if central, location. Epsom, Farnham,
Richmond, Petersham, Guildford, Dorking, Chertsey and
Reigate have a rather better selection of good Georgian
properties than elsewhere. Because of their rarity, Georgian
houses command a high premium but they are also often on main roads. Buyers must
be prepared to be less fussy about location. Georgian
houses tend to remain with the same owners for a long
period and are often sold privately.
There is a slightly better supply of Victorian
housing (1837 -1901) especially small terraced properties and
late Victorian villas, the latter in a range of sizes including
large rambling properties standing in several acres and neat
little detached houses. Norman Shaw (1831 - 1912) was a leading
Victorian architect who designed many houses in Surrey, particularly
in and around Guildford, and his brick and tile-hanging style
was much copied around the county, noticeably at Haslemere and
Weybridge. |
| From the 1930s onwards
(with a gap during the war years) new houses shot up
in Surrey, mostly on smallish estates. The majority
of Surrey's housing stock is from these more recent
times and there is a huge supply of late twentieth century homes. Although there is hardly any virgin building land in
the county, developers are still managing to find plots. Most new housing tends to be executive style
homes (either individual or small estates), apartments
or terraced housing. Indeed with recent Government guide-lines demanding higher density, developers are now concentrating on apartments and multi-storey "town" houses. Styles are mainly traditional,
even pastiches, and there is very little adventurous
or innovative housing being erected in Surrey.
Land prices in Surrey are very high and
there is a growing tendency for developers to pull down
tired, outdated housing in prime locations and erect
swish new homes that enjoy mature settings. Sometimes
a number of new houses will be squeezed into the large
plot of a demolished house, but increasingly individual
houses are being torn down to be replaced by just one
new property. The latest trend is for enormous monster houses, many of them still in the grandiose mock-Georgian style derisively known as "footballers' houses". Large redundant buildings (eg hospitals)
are also being divided up and converted into modern
homes.
Developers who specialize in the Surrey
area include Octagon, Fairclough Homes,
Bryant Homes, Charles Church, Barratt, Latchmere Properties,
Fairview, Laing Homes, Bewley Homes, Kingsway, Beaumonde
Homes, Crest Nicholson and Try Homes.
See Surrey
New Homes Directory. |
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| Something very
strange has happened to Surrey prices. The county has many
desirable and highly priced areas, but it used to be a general
rule that the further you went from London the markedly cheaper
these desirable locations became. Thus there was a gap between
prices in Esher and, a few miles further out, Cobham and an
even larger gap between the prices in Esher and those in Guildford.
This is still true but to a much lesser extent, the gap has
diminished. So that nowadays housing in and around Guildford
is not startlingly cheaper than that in the north of the county.
(A fact that reflects the growth of Guildford as a very successful
business centre in its own right. Its workers have also upped
the prices of property in the surrounding villages.) Indeed
you can even sometimes now pay more for the same kind of property
in a desirable location in the south of the county than in
a less desirable location in north Surrey. (Guildford is more
expensive than Croydon or Sutton in all categories of housing).
Moreover, a number of major companies have relocated many
members of staff to new office premises built near the M25
and this has put pressure on the supply of local housing and
pushed up prices. Generally, the east of the county and the
area along its western boundary offer cheaper buying opportunities,
but there are drawbacks to these areas which are the reasons
for the lower prices.
Price falls - some myths laid to rest
Do not be misled into thinking that
property prices in Surrey are immune from falls or
even crashes. In the last property slump (1988-94)
prices fell as dramatically here as elsewhere, disproving
the myth that the rich are somehow protected against
economic downturns or hikes in interest rates. Instead,
in the 1989/91 debacle it was obvious that much expensive
Surrey property had been bought largely with borrowed
money and many swanky homes in prestigious locations
such as St George's Hill were repossessed by the banks.
The current market collapse has likewise affected
Surrey and property prices have tumbled. A lot of
the recent boom was fuelled by high-earning employees
in the financial industry and the shake-out in the
City has had negative effect on Surrey's house prices.
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What’s the market doing
now?
17th June 2009
 The first two weeks of May saw the spring market producing further sales, with buyers buoyed by media reports of a revival in the outlook for property and further spurred by the realisation that they were competing with other purchasers to get the best bargains. There were even examples of gazumping - not caused by demand exceeding supply, as some agents and commentators would have us believe, but caused by buyers directing their attention to the very best properties that had already gone under offer at particularly low prices when selling conditions were more desperate.
However, by the end of the month, the impetus appeared to be waning and the number of properties going under offer tailed off. At the same time, during the latter part of May, new instructions flowed into estate agent's offices as vendors, excited by the media talk of a market revival, seized the opportunity to try to sell their homes in what appeared to be vastly improved conditions. A large proportion of May's new instructions were for houses in excess of a million pounds. Also there was a significant number of relaunches for properties that had failed to sell last year. But these would-be vendors may have left it too late, they may have missed the boat. For the market in Surrey already appears to be slowing down for the summer holiday period and the serious buyers who have wanted to purchase in the first half of this year, have already made their commitment. Moreover, mortgages remain rationed and only those with huge deposits are achieving loans with good interest rates. Indeed, the mortgage market continues to be very fickle with offers being withdrawn at the last moment (just prior to exchange) for very little reason. This has led to great uncertainty and fragility in the whole property purchasing process (as if the process wasn't unstable enough already) and sales have frequently been aborted.
Prices
Despite the revival in sales, prices have not generally risen. There has been a trend for agents to bring properties to market at substantially "low" figures in order to attract maximum interest among buyers, ultimately leading to competitive bids and a sale at a higher price. This trend shows no sign of ending, rather it appears to be on the increase, with agents forestalling a market slowdown over the summer, by appearing to produce some "bargain" buys. Generally, overpriced properties have tended to be ignored by vendors.
The Future?
We continue to predict an end to the recent, partial market rally. Our previous reasons for this prediction still stand - the normal summer sales slowdown, mortgage restrictions, rising unemployment, pay freezes, an increase in the number of repossessions and the underlying economic malaise. Now, there are further negative factors at work: interest rates charged by lenders are on the up and the price of oil has risen in recent months. Mortgages are still being heavily rationed and large deposits are generally required.
Moreover, figures show that first-time-buyers featured largely in the spring's sales activity (they accounted for the largest proportionate share of sales since 2005) and first-time-buyers traditionally property hunt in the first months of the year so we are unlikely to see much activity from them during the rest of 2009. Similarly, so far this year, overseas buyers have been propping up the London market (and to a lesser extent the Surrey market) and this activity has fuelled the media reports of a mini boom. With the pound gaining strength against overseas currencies, such buyers are now likely to decline in number. Meanwhile many more homes have flooded onto the market in May so that generally, even though numerous properties have been sold over recent months, there is still a good supply of homes for sale.
Furthermore, while London and parts of southern England have enjoyed a revival of sorts, other parts of the country have remained in the doldrums and this will supress the overall market performance statistics. It is worth remembering that during the last property crash in the late 80s/early 90s there were many months when prices rose, only to fall again, with the market decline stumbling on and subsequently sinking to new lows. We therefore predict further stagnation and price cuts later this year.
As always, buyers should exert caution in assessing the value of a property. A house or flat is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
CLICK HERE
FOR PAST MARKET REPORT ARCHIVE
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| Average
property prices in Surrey |
| Land
Registry House
Price Index for April 2009
(latest monthly figures) |
| Detached
£469,710 |
Semi-detached
£245,666 |
Terraced
£212,153 |
Flat/maisonette
£165,558 |
| Average
price (all types of property) £261,841 |
Change on previous month - minus 0.3%
(Land Registry figures record completed sales.
Since there is often a time lag of several months between
an agreed sale and the actual legal completion of the sale,
the statistics reflect the state of the house-buying market
some months before they are published.)
The fall of 0.3% in average price for April
is the twelfth consecutive monthly fall for Surrey.
However, this figure continues the strong
trend for a consistent decrease in the size of monthly
fall - thus the 0.3% fall in April was an improvement
on the 0.9% fall recorded in March and it was also an
improvement on the figures for the previous five months
- 1.5% fall in February, 1.6% fall recorded in January,
2.6% fall in December, 1.9% fall in November and a fall
of 2.1% in October). Thus, the rate at which
prices have been falling has been consistently dropping
during the early months of 2009 and this trend gathered
pace in April.
All the property categories listed above in the Land
Registry statistics recorded small percentage falls
during April.
The comparative performance figure for all
England and Wales in April was exactly the same as for
Surrey at minus 0.3%. In London, average prices
actually recorded a small rise of 1.4% in April. The
average property price for all England and Wales in
March was £152,898 while the average price for
London was £302,411.
The total number of sales completed during
April is not yet available. The most recent
month for which the number of completed sales has been
published by the Land Registry is February. The number
of completed sales in Surrey during February 2009 was
the laughably low figure of 555! This compares with
1,364 sales in February2008 (when the market was already
weak after the Northern Rock collapse) and with 1,978
sales in February 2007. It is almost needless to say
that this was the lowest ever February figure on the
Land Registry's published statistics, which go back
to 1995. All the previous figures for February record
at least double the number of sales achieved in February
this year.
On an annual basis (April 2008 to April 2009)
the average price of property in Surrey fell by 16.2%.
The comparative annual figure for all properties
in England and Wales was exactly the same at minus 16.2%.
The annual figure for London was slightly better than
Surrey's at minus 14.3%. Up until recently, Surrey had
been outperforming both London and the rest of England
and Wales over the previous twelve months, but that
has now changed.
Surrey Houses uses the Land Registry statistics as
a measure of the property market as we like to think
that these offer the most accurate account of property
sales. The widely publicised mortgage lenders' indices
are based on mortgage offers (which may not proceed
to actual sales - indeed around a quarter do not), include
remortgages (which are not sales), do not include properties
bought without a mortgage (tradtionally about a fifth
of all sales, but probably more in the current climate),
are seasonally adjusted and are also weighted for property
type. The fact that the two average price indices published
by the Halifax and the Nationwide often disagree markedly
undermines their reliability. (Nationwide actually has
a minuscule share of the sales market.) The Land Registry
figures, on the other hand, record almost all property
sales. Regrettably, the Land Registry House Price Index
is seasonally adjusted, so it does not necessarily reflect
normal seasonal changes in the property market. (Surely
it would be better not to "seasonally adjust"
the statistics? Most people can understand that market
activity naturally varies over the year and is traditionally
stronger in the spring and weaker in the winter, but
the Index masks some of these fluctuations. On the other
hand, in recent years, buying activity has not alway
kept to the old traditional pattern, and indeed some
new patterns have emerged - eg.big City-bonus spending
during the winter months in 2005 and 2006- so how accurate
or useful is seasonal adjustment?) The Land Registry
also does not include sales of repossessions at auction
or new-build properties.
Unfortunately, the Land Registry no longer publishes
online its detailed quarterly statistics which used
to provide individual figures for each local authority
area within Surrey. Consequently we are no longer able
to provide our detailed analysis and commentary on all
individual areas within the county.
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