ONE street, three previously-identical housesand three very different approaches to home improvement. Today ANDRE FRIEZE finds out how the changes made by three neighbours in Laburnum Road, Wimbledon, have affected the value of their homes, which all started out with two bedrooms. With unaltered properties in the same road priced at pounds 285,000, have they all invested wisely?
If there is one subject easy to find people to talk to about, you would think it would be retirement. But when researchers recently contacted several hundred people on a list of those considering buying a retirement home, the vast majority of them were either travelling, or busy juggling full schedules. Couples often want to get rid of the large family house, but dont like to think that the next move they make will be the last. They want independence, but with the fall-back of a warden on site in an emergency. In 1982, there were only 2,500 private sheltered units in existence in the UK. Today, that figure stands at 90,000, and since the over-55s account for two-fifths of the countrys wealth, they are proving to be a demanding market. It is no longer possible, as it was in the Eighties, for developers to produce small, box-like homes for the elderly and expect them to sell. Now, the key is space and the more American notion of “service”. All the problems and practicalities of running a home can be passed on to someone else - albeit at a price. Increasingly, the service offered to people buying in the grounds of a nursing home is becoming more popular and widespread. “Close care” is similar to sheltered housing, but with the bonus of nursing care either at home or in the main house. Its greatest appeal is that the elderly stand a good chance of staying in their own homes for the rest of their lives. Gwyneth Hodgson, now 84, moved into her flat in the grounds of Hays House, near Shaftesbury, Dorset, when she began to find the upkeep of her house and garden too much. “I didnt want to be a burden on my son, nor did I want to bother friends. When I cut my leg one day, I pressed a button and a nurse arrived at once. I wanted to stay in the area, and this is the perfect answer. I have my dog with me, which is important because I could never live without an animal, and some places dont allow them.” Many people, unused to living so closely with others, regard the prospect with some trepidation, and Mrs Hodgson admits that she likes being alone. “I look out over fields. If it were practical, I would live in a remote country spot, but this is a fair compromise. Most of us are widows and we dont mix a great deal. But there is a residents restaurant if we do want to have lunch together or entertain.” Mrs Hodgson bought her flat from Park Healthcare on a 125-year lease. The annual service charge is pounds 2,657, but this does not cover nursing care. The company is currently selling its latest development, set in the grounds of Elliscombe House, near Wincanton, Somerset. The unusually spacious eight two-bedroom apartments and two three-bedroom gatehouses are for sale from pounds 169,500 to pounds 189,500, with an additional service charge of pounds 2,800. Service charges are the area most buyers are warned to check out thoroughly. Some offer a minimum of maintenance and warden cover, while others will reflect a ritzy hierarchy of reception staff and services that people may well not use. The cost of running a swimming pool, for instance, may not be justified for an underused facility. In its research, English Courtyard found that buyers felt some developers did not always disclose the full extent of service charge, and worried about the escalation of such costs. Calls to Help the Aged on the subject were an important factor in the charity setting up its own Property Services, a commercial arm of the main campaigning body that was created a year ago. The charity now has 6,000 buyers registered with it, and a nationwide list of retirement homes. Among any group of buyers in this sector, there will always be a “reluctant” proportion - those who will mentally tough it out, even as they become physically more fragile. Godfrey Winterson, of Hamptons International, had to work hard to persuade his mother to give up the struggle of living alone. “After a fourth fall, she started going downhill rapidly. She would not have lasted six months on her own. Now, she goes out at least three times a week and likes to have friends to stay. “The other options we considered were nursing care of pounds 750 a week, or an establishment where she was going to be cared for 24 hours a day at a cost of pounds 3,000 a month. How many years can people afford that?” asks Winterson. A flat with a warden outside a main centre, on the othe hand, could be bought for pounds 60,000, which might leave money over for supply nurses or other forms of care. Even the thought of moving is daunting for some. McCarthy Stone, the largest developer of retirement properties in Britain, finds that a third of its buyers use the part-exchange scheme, often for the convenience of not hav- ing potential buyers traipsing around their homes. The company has also noticed the growing popularity of city-centre locations where everything is on tap. In Bath, it has seen a record number of enquiries for its canalside development. Close care is not easy to find in cities but, for example, the Kensington office of John D Wood has a two-bedroom apartment for sale, for pounds 250,000, at Chartwell House, which has a nursing home attached and is one of a number owned by the Goldsborough Estates, part of Bupa. The service charges start at pounds 117.79 a week. In Richmond, Surrey, meanwhile, Bovis Retirement homes has just completed Fullerton Court, described as “very sheltered living”, where service charges are pounds 4,550 a year. There is some comfort to be taken from the resale values of good retirement properties. English Courtyard says it has beaten the nationwide indices over the past 10 years, and the property has had an annual increase of 5.69 per cent. As the population ages, this is one sector where growth must surely be guaranteed. English Courtyard: 0171-937 4511; Help the Aged Property Services: 0800 592605; McCarthy Stone: 0800 919132; Hays House and Elliscombe Park through the Walton Partnership: 01747 852242; Fullerton Court: 0181-977 1021; Chartwell House (John D Wood): 0171-727 0705
THE DERBY suburb of Crewton does not exude cheap tat, so the place was understandably surprised to learn yesterday that its houses will fetch less money than any in the land. The average property price in Crewton was just pounds 29,052 last year, according to research by the financial information group Experian, published yesterday. It prompted some typically delicious north-south comparisons as the same research showed that the price of a home in St Johns Wood, north London (pounds 401,303), will buy you 14 Crewton semis. Being cheap is a double-edged sword, if Crewtons response to its new- found fame was anything to go by. For estate agents like Chris Brown of Boxall, Brown and Jones (who recently sold a two-bedroom place for pounds 14,000) it means a pounds 1,000 fixed fee can represent 5 per cent of the sale price, so “generally speaking its good to sell at that price,” he admitted. But Abdelkrim Baka wants to sell his 10-bedroom guest house on London Road and move back to Tunisia. He put it up for sale at pounds 160,000 five years ago. Yesterday he dropped it to pounds 115,000. “I bought it from my brother in 1983,” he said. “I thought he was doing me a favour.” Crewton owes its existence and its demise (prices have fallen almost 15 per cent in three years) to the railways. Rows of immaculate terraces were built for the railway workers at the turn of the century. The stone plaques set in their patterned brickwork read “Park View Villas”, “Rosamund Cottages”, “Bond Villas”. Neither is the local infant school new-build in cheap brick. “Board School, 1890″ reads the engraving on its stone wall - the kind of authenticity buyers in the south east will kill for. But authenticity means less when the British Railways Technical Centre (which made trains and wagons for BR) has closed down and hundreds of jobs have gone. Its a far cry from St Johns Wood, where prices have climbed 13.5 per cent in three years. Even that pales by comparison with Virginia Water, Surrey, where a 92.2 per cent climb between 1995 and 1998 took the average property price to pounds 268,409 last year. Other than Virginia Water and Richmond, each of the top 20 most expensive locations are in London. The 20 cheapest areas are in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Staffordshire and Durham. It all looks extremely gloomy for the north but in fact it is not. It is in the souths sensational climb that the bad signs lie, according to Experian. If nothing else, the figures show there is good value to be found in places like Crewton, while the souths extraordinary growth proves the spectre of negative equity is now looming. “We would be staggered to see this kind of growth continue without severe inflationary pressures,” said Bruno Rost of Experian. “There is strong potential for the bottoming out of the market and we dont want to see prices out of control. It is the north that demonstrates the most steady growth. There is huge over-capacity in the south east, with 23 per cent growth on average, while capacity does exist further north.” “Its not all breeze-blocks up here,” said one Crewton resident yesterday. “There are even plans to revive the old canal here and create a marina. Things are never as bad they sound.” Experians figures are based on the recorded price of sales, not the number of transactions. This helps explain why the notoriously pricey areas of Hampstead and Islington in north London (where most sales were relatively cheap flats or maisonettes) do not fare as well as East Sheen and Kilburn. The Price Gulf Average Average price change 1998 1995-98 The Most Expensive 1 St Johns Wood pounds 401,303 13.53 2 Belgravia pounds 388,642 7.93 3 Chelsea pounds 376,254 13.57 4 Mayfair pounds 356,642 5.39 5 Kensington pounds 354,885 21.17 6 Barnes pounds 353,764 29.27 7 Putney pounds 351,297 27.28 8 Fulham pounds 333,520 24.87 9 Chiswick pounds 316,476 50.76 10 Hammersmith pounds 309,860 33.60 The Cheapest 10 Bootle, Merseyside pounds 36,994 10.14 9 Hatfield, Yorks pounds 36,990 -3.38 8 Conisbrough, nr Rotherham pounds 36,946 2.90 7 Eston, Middlesbrough pounds 36,902 16.14 6 Cudworth, Yorks pounds 36,658 11.98 5 Framwellgate, Durham pounds 35,955 8.04 4 Thurnscoe, Yorks pounds 35,882 14.01 3 Burslem, Stoke pounds 35,594 9.59 2 Tunstall, Stoke pounds 35,339 5.17 1 Crewton, Derby pounds 29,052 -14.77
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