Should I be concerned if there are no sale history in a postcode?

fsttb

Hi all, we are interested in a house and was looking up sale activity to gauge the average price for that area but we found only 5 recorded sales in the entire postcode for the last 10 years. Is this normal, would you be concerned? I wonder if it's saying that people are happy in that area and never want to move out or is it that there is not much demand for buyers. There are 123 houses and 29 are rented from the council. 
Would you be concerned or is this normal? 

frogglet

Id say people are happy there and haven't moved. We lived on a new estate for 30 years, hardly any houses came up for sale we snapped up our current house for that reason 

Definite

What is your source for the data? 

[Deleted User]

Re: the 1st point - i live in an area where numbers of sales is that low and it's because it's a desirable area and once here people stay put !
The 2nd point - yes, i, personally, wouldn't like that.

cattie

I'd take it that people who live there & own are happy & content with their homes, or alternatively that a majority of the properties have been bought as buy to let & are rented out, but think it's unlikely that such a large amount have been bought for this purpose.

If my postcode was searched, there probably would be only 2 or 3 sales in the last 10 yrs as most people who move here only tend to leave when they pop off. 

davidmcn

Are you sure you mean "postcode"? It would be unusual for one postcode to cover as many as 123 addresses.

Obviously the 29 owned by the council aren't going to feature anyway, and right-to-buy purchases don't show up in the normal sales data, only if somebody subsequently sold on the open market. RTB buyers tend to be an older demographic (by the time they've accumulated any right/discount) so less likely to be upsizing / moving for work / new partners etc.

fsttb

Definite said:

What is your source for the data? 

Based on streetcheck.co.uk

sammyjammy

davidmcn said:

Are you sure you mean "postcode"? It would be unusual for one postcode to cover as many as 123 addresses.

Obviously the 29 owned by the council aren't going to feature anyway, and right-to-buy purchases don't show up in the normal sales data, only if somebody subsequently sold on the open market. RTB buyers tend to be an older demographic (by the time they've accumulated any right/discount) so less likely to be upsizing / moving for work / new partners etc.

It really isn't, my friend lives in a village of around 2500 people and there are only two postcodes!

fsttb

davidmcn said:

Are you sure you mean "postcode"? It would be unusual for one postcode to cover as many as 123 addresses.

Yes, its indeed for the postcode. Housing Types
Detached	3
Semi-Detached	86
Terraced	18
Flat (Purpose-Built)	14
Flat (Converted)	2
Residence in Commercial Building	3
Total	126

Housing Tenure
Owned Outright	36
Owned with Mortgage	40
Shared Ownership	0
Rented: From Council	29
Rented: Other Socialinc. charities and housing associations	3
Rented: Private Landlordinc. letting agents	15
Rent Free	0
Total	123

davidmcn

Ok, so there's a further 18 landlord-owned ones - they don't tend to change hands very often, being a landlord is a longterm investment.

Relatively high proportion of owned outright suggests an older demographic, so they're more likely to stay where they are until they have to downsize or get carried out.

I would only get concerned if it looks like people have tried (and failed) to sell.

Mickey666

sammyjammy said:

davidmcn said:

Are you sure you mean "postcode"? It would be unusual for one postcode to cover as many as 123 addresses.

Obviously the 29 owned by the council aren't going to feature anyway, and right-to-buy purchases don't show up in the normal sales data, only if somebody subsequently sold on the open market. RTB buyers tend to be an older demographic (by the time they've accumulated any right/discount) so less likely to be upsizing / moving for work / new partners etc.

It really isn't, my friend lives in a village of around 2500 people and there are only two postcodes!

Must be lots of variability.  My postcode covers just 9 properties.
Also, properties can change hands without being sold on the open market, eg inherited, in which case the change is not recorded on rightmove/zoopla etc.