Chelmsford vs Ipswich .. the tale of two very different property markets.

I was talking to one of my landlords from Witham the other week, when we were looking over a few properties that he was considering to buy in Chelmsford or Ipswich. As we have offices in both towns, I was able to discuss the two towns in depth. We started to notice an interesting pattern in the house prices between the two. Chelmsford has always been a more expensive town to buy in comparison to Ipswich , but depending on what type of property you buy, there are some fascinating differences.

A few weeks ago, we said that the average value of a property in Ipswich was £211,300, compared to Chelmsford’s of £297,100 (making Chelmsford’s 40.6% higher). However, when you look deeper, things become quite interesting between the two cities. Terraced houses in Chelmsford are 46.1% higher than Ipswich’s (£244,900 to £153,900), semi detached properties are even higher, 48.9% in Chelmsford (£272,300 compared to £182,800 in Ipswich). Whilst detached houses are only 33.7% higher in Chelmsford (£427,900 to Ipswich’s £319,900) and flats are only 28.4% more expensive in Chelmsford in our city (£164,200 to Ipswich’s £27,800).

So why the big difference when it comes to looking at the cities as a whole? Well after investigating, it transpires that in Chelmsford, there are 120% proportionally more detached houses than Ipswich. However, on the other side of the coin, Ipswich has proportionally a over a fifth more semis (in fact, Ipswich must be the land of semis as 38.5% of property in that city is a semi detached house, a fifth more compared to our 31.6%) and 35.6% more flats/apartments. 

As Chelmsford has the more expensive detached houses and a shortage of semis, which in turn increases the price, this means the overall average property price is driven up in Chelmsford over Ipswich. These differing housing provisions in the two cities just goes to show that you need to know your marketplace and decide which is the right place for your money. If you are an existing landlord or one who is thinking of become one in Chelmsford, don’t hesitate to pop by our offices on Duke Street in Chelmsford or send me an email to stephen.frost@martinco.com