3 Bedroom vs 4 Price.

jamie_128

So according to nationwide, a 4th bedroom is supposed to add 9% value to a house.

However from what ive seen, a lot of 3 bedroom houses sell for not much less than a 4 bed depending on area, most are about 5-7k less. Houses are near schools so youd imagine people would want 4 bedroom with kids etc but the prices dont reflect that?

In my estate a 4 bed sold for 184 and a 3 bed sold for 179, from the floorplan it looks a similar size downstairs just with an extra bedroom somehow upstairs. A large 4 bed obviously sold for more.

ReadingTim

jamie_128 wrote: »

In my estate a 4 bed sold for 184 and a 3 bed sold for 179, from the floorplan it looks a similar size downstairs just with an extra bedroom somehow upstairs. A large 4 bed obviously sold for more.

So, some sell for significantly more, while other sell for only marginally more, but when all sales have been averaged, Nationwide calculate the increase is 9%.

Dunno what question you're asking, but you've answered it yourself..

PasturesNew

4s can be harder to sell than 3s. Often 4s are shoe-horned in just to get it to a 4.

For most of the market, those 4s don't work/flow, so buyers who don't need it will often find the house just doesn't sit right with them.

Most buyers of 4 bed houses therefore need 4 - and there are fewer of those.

3 bed semis are the most common houses built/for sale, so they tend to set the market price. Any extra/not for a 4 bed will be all about the desirability of the house/area and the room sizes and flow/awkwardness at how that 4th has been fitted in. Many 4s are also simply two box rooms just so they can say it's a 4; most buyers would prefer 3 good sized bedrooms.

There are no rules about how much it is worth, more.... or not. It's the local market, the individual house - and whether buyers need/insist on a 4 bed or whether, for most, 3 works better and flows better.

AdrianC

jamie_128 wrote: »

So according to nationwide, a 4th bedroom is supposed to add 9% value to a house.

No, I think you've misunderstood...

On average, across all 3- and 4-bed properties over the entire UK, 4-bed houses have sold for 9% more than 3.

No more than that.

That's very different to saying any "should" about any pair of properties or individual area.

However from what ive seen, a lot of 3 bedroom houses sell for not much less than a 4 bed depending on area, most are about 5-7k less. Houses are near schools so youd imagine people would want 4 bedroom with kids etc but the prices dont reflect that?

In my estate a 4 bed sold for 184 and a 3 bed sold for 179, from the floorplan it looks a similar size downstairs just with an extra bedroom somehow upstairs. A large 4 bed obviously sold for more.

Show us typical examples, and we'll see if we can help you make sense of it.

jamie_128

Its just bizarre the pricing near me. In an area thats basically the same as ours about 1 mile away the 3 bed houses are selling for 30k less. Pricing seems to be all over the place.

ReadingTim

jamie_128 wrote: »

Its just bizarre the pricing near me. In an area thats basically the same as ours about 1 mile away the 3 bed houses are selling for 30k less. Pricing seems to be all over the place.

Then they're basically not the same are they? A Rolls Royce is "basically the same" as a Ford Mondeo but they're priced differently too - "all over the place", even. Is that also bizarre to you?!?

AdrianC

jamie_128 wrote: »

Its just bizarre the pricing near me. In an area thats basically the same as ours about 1 mile away the 3 bed houses are selling for 30k less. Pricing seems to be all over the place.

So ask why people are preferring to live <-- there than there -->...? £30k is a big preference. So why aren't people just looking at the two and keeping the £30k in their pockets?

Again, show us links...

oystercatcher

jamie_128 wrote: »

Its just bizarre the pricing near me. In an area thats basically the same as ours about 1 mile away the 3 bed houses are selling for 30k less. Pricing seems to be all over the place.

It's all down to area, there are houses that look identical to mine on the other side of town but they are 50-100K less because they are on a rough estate, many love living there though but you take your chances. My house looks very ordinary but is in a small quiet estate on the edge of town with very little trouble. The road behind us has slightly larger houses for 50K less because it is a rough area with many buy to let properties and lots of Police raids , drunks fighting with broken bottles etc etc.

Then in some parts of town are tiny character cottages which seem very small and possibly damp but people are willing to pay an extra 100K for them, just because they look charming even on a busy main road !

Price is down to many things and you need to choose what is important to you to fit the budget you have. When I moved here I chose a smaller house in a nicer area but near the schools we needed, haven't regretted it !

Silvertabby

It's not just the extra bedroom - a 4 bed house will usually have more living space as well.

On our estate, a typical 3 bed is £250K - with a 4 bed being at least £40K more.

Slinky

We have a 4 bed I'd rather was a 3 bed. We looked at a different property a few doors down which has 3 beds and has much nicer sized rooms and a larger landing, at one point we had offers accepted on both, but went with the 4 bed in the end as the orientation/location was better for us. Wish I had the other house on this plot, the sizes are'nt a lot different. They were priced the same but we ended up paying more for ours as there was competition for it.

Mutton_Geoff

Never understood why the UK property market is obsessed with number of bedrooms when it's the habitable sq footage of a property that has more of a bearing on price for me.


In my last two purchases, my spreadsheet of interesting properties had a price per sq foot column to make an easy comparison.