Hello

I was recently looking at the Sales figures for Bedford as a whole and I thought it might be useful to compare the Town as a whole when compared to Our Neighbours. So I thought a five year comparison against the 5 biggest nearby towns namely: Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Letchworth, Hitchin and Stevenage

How Bedford Compared was quite a surprise.

                           Average  Average   Average                    Total No.      Total No.           Sales
                           Old          5 year      New           % inc           of                   of                 Activity
                            Price       increase   Price                            Sales          Household*
Town
Northampton      189704     23188     212892       12.22%     20008            88731             22.55%
Bedford              232635    39111     271746        16.81%    15728           63812              24.65%
Luton                  174772     23895     198667       13.67%     10541           74293              14.19%
Milton Keynes    222400    35899      258299       16.14%     17211           98584              17.46%
Hitchin                287487    58815      346302       20.46%     5114              N/A                 N/A
Stevenage           211936     36111      248047       17.04%     5778             34898              16.56%
Letchworth         250829     53262      304091       21.23%     2123              N/A                N/A


Taking the Average Increase in isolation it is clear that if you live in Hitchin or Letchworth then you have had a good time if your selling. Bedford has fared well when compared to is three bigger neighbours, out performing all three especially Luton and Northampton.
When looking at the Total Sales Figures, you'd expect the bigger Towns to have much higher Figures due to the Size difference, however the difference is not as large as anticipated. Indeed Bedford is third on the list and Runs Milton Keynes pretty close. What is clear is how much less Sales activity there is is the Herts Towns. This is probably a key driver in the Higher Average Increases. It would be interesting to analyze the effect this has had on the number of Estate Agents trading in those Towns.
Bedford's above Average performance is further confirmed when looking at Sales Activity where its sitting pretty at the top.

To summarize, it is refreshing and good to see that the Bedford House market is so buoyant and bodes well for all participants. If your Buying, there is a good choice of Stock. If your selling the demand is helping to push prices in the right Direction.


Sources: All Zoopla except *
               * Office of National Statistics Data