How to give your street selling power

Even better are flowering trees. “Tree-lined streets are the first thing that attract a buyer and add value to a street,” says Carol Peett, of West Wales Property Finders. “If you show someone a house in April or May when cherry trees are in blossom or a magnolia in full bloom, they immediately fall in love with it as it conveys the impression of affluence, friendliness and safety.”

2. Chichi shops, cafés and delis
A recent report by the Mayfair property specialist Wetherell found that people were prepared to pay a 20 per cent premium to live above a famous restaurant such as Scott’s on Mount Street.

This is an option for a minuscule number, but a local chichi deli can work wonders for a street’s popularity and subsequent value. Paul Atkinson, of the Hunters estate agency, nominates Bishopthorpe Road in York as one of the most desirable roads in the UK, thanks to its gluten-free café, cycling shop, fruit and veg vendors and family-run butchers.

“Bishy Road, as it is known to locals, has a real feeling of a thriving community, which sets it apart from more common tourist hotspots in York,” he says. “We recently sold a three-bedroom semi on the road, which had six offers in two days, five of which were above the asking price.”

Pubs, on the other hand are off-putting because people worry about noise and anti-social behaviour, although a gastro pub within a short walking distance is a bonus.

3. Connectivity
Ed Foster, of Middleton Advisors, says more and more clients are asking about connectivity. The ability to get reliable internet and a strong mobile phone signal are now high up the list of “must haves” for clients as more people are working from home, either permanently or one day a week. A road with fibre-optic cable laid, for example, scores highly; fast broadband is seen now as so vital, not least to catch up with the latest series on Netflix, that houses without it are worth up to 20 per cent less.

4. Family-friendly facilities
School catchment area still remains an extremely important selling point. Move with Us recently surveyed more than 120 independent estate agents around Britain and asked them about buyer preferences when choosing a new home. The No 1 factor was being in the catchment area of a good school — this even surpassed the importance of the number of bedrooms.

In Surrey, homes near schools within the top 20 per cent for GCSE results in the country are £102,000 pricier than those in the bottom 20 per cent, according to Land Registry data. Savills says some buyers are prepared to pay a 22 per cent premium for homes within the catchment area of a school considered “outstanding” by Ofsted.

It’s not just about school-age children, though. Rachel Colgan, a PR director, lives on a street in Englefield Green, Surrey, that has a community centre with regular children’s activities, classes and a coffee shop where mums socialise. “It makes our street a very appealing location for parents with young children and babies as there is always something to do within walking distance,” she says. “My friends and I have all joked that we would never be able to move away from the street because the village centre is so handy.”

5. Boris bikes
With a growing number of people priced out of cities, particularly London, streets within easy walking distance of a station have risen in popularity. William Bankes, director of Humberts in Sevenoaks, says tree-lined cul-de-sacs with access to a mainline stations are the most desirable spots in the area.

Ray Withers, chief executive of Property Frontiers, believes property investors should consider apartments that have easy access to transport links, which are snapped up quickly because they can be rented out easily to good tenants, young professionals or families.

However, for many commuters bicycle storage is the new train station. According to the Marsh & Parsons estate agency, buyers look for somewhere safe to keep their bikes, and, in London, proximity to Boris bike docking stations, as people increasingly cycle to work.

6. Continuity
“When it comes to working out how a street might be valued by potential buyers, appearance is often one of the key drivers,” says Jo Eccles, of the Sourcing Property search agency.

Infill housing, which can interrupt period terraces that were once bombed, can be a big turn off. “We recently found a gorgeous house for a client in Islington but because some of the houses farther down the street embodied the unattractive postwar architecture, our client opted for a smaller property on a street which was more consistent in design.”

Ben Gee, of Marsh & Parsons, agrees. If you opt for a terrace house, consider: “Are all the front mansards extended? Are the houses all painted pastel colours? Or has one house been pebble-dashed?”

Research by Create Streets, a social enterprise that campaigns for better urban homes, found that most people want what some architects call “active frontages” or “walking speed architecture”. “Put in normal English, that means not long blank walls but things to attract visual interest as you walk down a street. A little more ‘busy’ than much modern building,” says Nicholas Boys Smith, founding director of Create Streets. “Likewise ‘soft edges’ are popular. That means modest front gardens, spaces or yards which appear to optimise the amount of human interactions that take place between neighbours.”

7. Parties
Regular street parties and community events can sell a house, particularly in a big city that is often considered unfriendly. “There is a small but growing number of mews in London which have such a fantastic sense of community that the residents all pitch in together to create bunting-festooned, trestle-tabled street parties of the old style,” says James Robinson, general manager of the Lurot Brand agency in London. “Mews rarely have gardens to the rear for residents to hide away in, so if you live in mews the cobbles themselves are your outside space and some residents make best use of the almost café society feel that these, long communal courtyards afford.”

Take Bathurst Mews, in Bayswater, west London, where one resident started a social experiment by planting an olive tree, adding a picnic table and saying hello to neighbours as they walked by. Within a few years Robinson believes Bathhurst has become one of the most social mews streets in London with “legendary” street parties. As a result, buyers and tenants register specifically to live there, with less sociable mews streets fetching considerably less per square foot.

8. Parking
Ed Mead, executive director of Douglas & Gordon, says it sounds obvious, but streets that aren’t packed with cars really count for a first impression. Fewer cars on the street implies that the properties are houses rather than flat conversions, occupied by families rather than sharers. If there is street parking, it should be residents’ rather than metered.

Flash cars such as BMWs and Audis parked in the street can sway buyers, however, as can modest but practical estate cars with child seats that suggest dependable neighbours with whom you would happily leave a spare back-door key.

Eccles says: “Proximity to transport is a given, and the parking situation can also play a big role. We’ve carried out a number of client searches where great properties were ruled out because the street was outside a parking zone.”

9. Sunshine
Vince Dennington, of John D Wood & Co, says the orientation of a street, and therefore a garden, can be make or break for many property-seekers. “South to southwest is the most popular for the sun worshippers and keen gardeners, while north facing is the preference for those wanting coolness in the summer and for the children to be able to play out of the sun. Early risers often enjoy east-facing.”

10. Cleanliness
Streets should not be cluttered with full bins and recycling boxes, as first impressions count for so much. A well-maintained building and street reflects on its inhabitants, details such as neatly painted front doors flanked by potted plants with polished letterboxes, convey affluence and a low crime area, though this may be far from the truth, of course. Many developers are now landscaping front gardens as well as rear gardens to create a higher level of “kerb appeal”.

“Litter and dog mess is a big one that is easy to manage,” says Edward Corry-Reid, of Aylesford International. “Nice tidy streets that are clean and presentable make a huge difference. Equally, looking after the external presentation of a building is a simple way to raise the desirability of a street. Shabby buildings with flaking paint, loose hanging external wiring, visible satellite dishes and shoddy masonry immediately create a negative feeling and can set alarm bells ringing with buyers before they’ve even stepped through the front door.”