When you’re trying to invest in a house or an apartment, you will find so many different options on the market. In many cases, you come across homes that are almost identical, yet their values are significantly different. The best example of this is when you compare two brand new houses from the same property development company. The company may build the exact same home in two or three different developments, yet the prices between them all will fluctuate.
Why is this the case? What is influencing the property prices on the market? Naturally, when you sell a home, there are all sorts of things you can do to increase the value of your property. For instance, you can make home improvements and improve the general look and feel of your property to make it more attractive to buyers. This will have a big influence on its value, but there are many other things that are beyond your control.
If you are looking to invest in property, you need to know the biggest things that influence property value. The chances of your investment being a financial success will increase if you pick a property in the right place. So, here are the three biggest things that determine the value of the property:
Geographical location
The place a property is located will have an instant impact on how cheap or expensive it is. In truth, the other two factors on this list come into play when deciding which locations are more sought after than others. However, you can easily look at a map and quite quickly point out areas of the country that are more affluent than others. Generally, the more developed metropolitan areas of a country will command higher property prices than some of the more barren places.
You’ve also got the popularity of a geographical location to take into account. When a place is very well-known and lots of people like to go there, the property market experiences a boom. This is mainly down to supply and demand – there’s a big demand to live in popular locations, but there isn’t an infinite supply of properties. Therefore, the value of the existing properties will increase with the demand.
Schools
Schools are another key factor that influences property values in a specific area. There have actually been lots of studies and research projects looking at how schools impact real estate values, and it’s quite fascinating. Most people assume that having easy access to schools is going to make real estate prices go up within a certain area. However, it’s not as simple as it seems. True, if you buy a home in an area with schools nearby, it should be more expensive than one in an area that’s completely devoid of any educational institutes.
Nevertheless, the key factor is the quality of the schools. It is found that property prices go up in areas where the schools perform really well. This is because families are all keen to send their children to the best school possible. So, the demand to live closer to these good schools is very high. To take it one step further, property prices have been shown to decrease in areas where the schools perform below average. Again, it’s all because families want what’s best for their kids. Why buy a house in an area where all the schools receive terrible results? Having access to impressive schools is a significant influencing factor for real estate prices.
Internet speeds
Believe it or not, but the internet speeds in an area will also impact the real estate market. This is a relatively recent thing, and it coincides with the birth of the online world. These days, almost everything we do demands a solid internet connection. With more and more people working from home, the need for business-level internet in residential areas is higher than ever before.
Thus, you find that areas with access to superfast fiber broadband will have higher property prices than places without it. People aren’t willing to buy houses in locations that don’t provide them with a fast and stable internet connection. Otherwise, their entire routine will be impacted and they may be unable to do things like work-from-home, stream videos, and so on. This is actually one of the most interesting price factors as many people don’t give it much thought. So, be sure you check the internet coverage in an area before you invest in any property.
Other influential factors exist, but these three are debatably the most significant. If you want to invest in a property, the chances of it being a successful investment increase when you pick a good location with good schools and excellent internet coverage.
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