Would you buy a house close to a dual carriageway?

stator

If my options were severely limited I might, if there is a main bedroom that faces in completely the opposite direction and is not affected by the noise.

I've always wondered how they sold these houses:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.56995,-3.647931,3a,75y,347.87h,85.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sC1ikiRTovsJd5UgLg-yimw!2e0

They didn't even plant a hedge

Anatidaephobia

It depends how "close" to the dual carriageway we are talking. If your house is literally on that road, you have to drive in and out it every day, then almost definitely not.

If you can see the road from your house, even if you're not that close, that would put me off too.

Our house is near-ish a dual carriageway but we are largely unaffected by it other than the fact that you can sometimes hear traffic in the garden.

SplanK

Have a listen to it at night time. Sound seems to travel differently at night compared to the day. I am some way from our nearest motorway, but at night I can hear it in the background when outside. I would plan to make a number of visits at different times of the day to see what its like. Rush hours are going to be worst but it is likely you will be at work during these hours, but I would visit at weekends during the day and evening


You will also need to put up with any road works that appear on the road. These can be quite noisy in terms of equipment used. See if you can find the history of the road to see how often its under repair, or if there are any future plans for works.


However, if you don't mind the noise and buy it, you need to be happy with the fact that when it comes to sell it, it may be more difficult, or take a bit longer to sell compared to a house further away.

Sue_S

It all depends on how desperate you are to live in a certain area, or how affordable the other properties are...


Look at this http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49552633.html you probably couldn't live on a busier road! Wonder if it will achieve anywhere near that price!

firebird082

Simply put - no. Traffic noise is the one thing I really can't stand. We looked (only out of curiosity really) at a house that was in the middle of a roundabout on the A4. Noise was horrendous and constant. No way you could even open your windows!

giddypenguin

How close? We are in the development you can see just poking above the trees: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.472543,-2.480721,3a,75y,256.8h,91.28t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1snObUukAzxQ1eI9y18YuL1A!2e0 (albeit on the opposite side to the ring road) Which is fine by us - it's not too loud and the roads directly around us are very quiet (makes directing people a lot easier too!)

However, we refused to even view this house: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Siston+Hill+Roundabout,+Bristol,+South+Gloucestershire+BS16+9QW/@51.504217,-2.490289,3a,75y,81.08h,72.84t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sfS28ALDx7O6NU_GkIKaAfw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x48718543ade6f61b:0x7fdaacebd89d636a when the EA gave us the details (after we'd street view'ed it - funnily enough they left the location out of the details) it was a lovely house (from the photos) but we didn't want to confuse ourselves by going to see it as it was just too close to a main road. Now we have a little one - I'm so glad!

onix22

It's literally 50 m next to the busy road behind a small grass patch.

We are renting in London for the moment, very busy area as well. We are worried more about the re-sale of the house in the future than the noise, really.

How much would a house lose from its value just being next to a busy road?

toddler9

Having 2 cats I personally would never live near a remotely busy road. Where we live now is in a cul de sac set back and about 1 mile to the nearest busy road. I love sitting in my garden and just being able to hear birds.
However other people would consider houses on dual carriageways as people live in them! I would expect them to be appropriately priced to reflect the location though. There are some enormous houses on a very busy 6 lane road near to the M60 and I always wonder what kind of buyer wouldn't mind living on the side of a motorway!

phoebe1989seb

onix22 wrote: »

How much would a house lose from its value just being next to a busy road?

Can't speak for your location specifically, but to refer back to my earlier post - our last house in a Wiltshire village that straddled an A-road sold in 2014 for approximately £200k less than very similar (hard to compare exactly as we're talking 200+ year old period houses, all slightly different ) houses in nearby villages that didn't have the road issue....

Timpu

Nope, definitely no.

Firstly, I wouldn't be able to deal with the pollution, I couldn't put laundry out to dry in the summer/enjoy the garden. Secondly, I like to sleep with a window open regardless of how cold it is outside and the traffic noise would disrupt my sleep.

My first flat was by a train station, with the large trains going up to Scotland as well as much smaller local trains. I got used to the noise during the day (no night trains) and there wasn't really any pollution from fuel being burnt off. I stayed there for about three years before selling up to move up the property ladder.

Good luck whatever you choose to do