Fabulous Leigh on Sea

December 29, 2015 by Rob Kahl

Fabulous Leigh on Sea

It is that time of the year when everyone can pause for breath and look back at the year just gone to evaluate and take stock.

Once again the Leigh on Sea housing market has had a healthy year. In fact, this year has been crazy. Some areas in Leigh in particular around the Broadway, Marine Estate and through to Chalkwell, prices have risen by 20% to 25% which is unbelievable.

Whether this is down to one particular reason is hard to tell, but the appeal of our town has reached new heights and in my opinion, quite rightly so.

We have a fabulous and thriving Broadway with lots of boutique shops, bars, restaurants, coffee shops and of course estate agents! In a time when traditional High Streets are in decline we should be proud that both businesses are prepared to invest in our area and the public who support it in such great numbers.

We have excellent schools and leisure facilities for all ages. Our area continues to be attractive to families looking for the best education combined with the outdoor lifestyle that our Estuary and surrounding area has to offer.

For those not as fortunate as me who have more than a 3 minute commute, then our train links in to London and the business hubs of The City and Canary Wharf have to be amongst the best in the country and the huge success of the Southend airport has opened our appeal even further with a recent advert aired on Dutch T.V telling viewers the virtues of holidaying in Essex.

But these things have been the same for many years. Is there anything imparticular this year that has seen our stock rise? Well in March Leigh on Sea was featured in The Times as the 4th best place in the U.K to live. Easily the highest closest to London and whilst I have no idea how they judge these things, the interest since then has been palpable. People have travelled from far and wide to see for themselves what all the fuss is about and invariably, they have liked what they have seen and tried to invest.

We had the general election earlier this year which to everyones surprise gave a majority government to The Tories. Now whatever your political persuasion, the markets were happy with what should now be a period of stability and with interest rates not looking like they are going to move anywhere anytime soon, people seemed happy to either take the plunge on to the housing market for the first time or invest further in bricks and mortar.

For an outsider looking in, seeing other people invest in our town exudes confidence in the area. The amount of building work going on (me included) is staggering. My own builder is already booked up until Summer next year and landmark developments such as Eden Point being completed and renewed interest in Nirvana are a huge positive. All we need now is for something to happen to The Grand and we will be laughing!

We obviously have the ripple effect from London as well. The housing market up there just seems to have gone mad this year. Stories of agents having 100 viewings in a day with over 50 offers earlier in the year were the norm and inevitably people were looking to cash out and get out of the smoke for a complete lifestyle change.

Maybe it was just the stars aligning that helped us all out, who knows? Here at Scott & Stapleton we have had our first full years trading at our new offices on the Broadway. We have smashed all of our targets, far exceeded our expectations when it comes to our figures and the business we have done, but perhaps more importantly our old clients and encouragingly the new ones too have bought in to our more informal but highly professional ethos when it comes to selling, renting or managing their properties.

We have extremely high hopes for 2016, whether the market will see another 20% rise we will have to wait and see? Maybe a smaller growth of around 5% is more likely and perhaps more welcome for a period of stability but there is nothing on the horizon to make us think that Leigh on Sea is not going to be as popular as ever.