This lady lived in the same house for 100 years, but how much did it originally cost?

The BBC reported that Nancy ‘Joan’ Gifford who is 104 years old has decided to put her terraced house in Somerset on the market having lived there for 102 years.

She had become ill so she has moved into a care home.

What an incredible woman to have been healthy enough to stay in the house until 104 years old.

My great aunt was 102 years old in 1983 when there were so few people over 100 that she would receive a hand-written birthday card from the Queen! But she was in a care home long before she was 100.

If you are interested, the house that Mrs Gifford is selling is available for ￡169,950 and probably requires a bit of renovation. 102 years ago, her parents bought it for ￡200 although the kitchen was “open to the elements” and the tin bath was hung on a wall outside.

But this happens everywhere, even in areas that you might find hard to believe. For example, 100 years ago Chelsea Park Gardens was regarded as a slum yet houses now sell there for over ￡10 million, the most expensive to date being ￡13m.

Now, there are more facilities in a modern home than there were 100 years ago, but that does not explain the huge increase in property values. Unfortunately, none of the talking heads in the press ever stop to consider why house prices keep increasing in every property cycle. They invariably cite a lack of supply, but this is clearly and demonstrably wrong.

There are far more powerful factors that drive property prices which is why “the experts” are always perplexed that their predictions of property crashes take so long to come true. Ironically, most of them stop predicting crashes about two years before the crash (it is a cycle of boom and bust), so that is something to look out for!

I will write more on this in my next Prime London Property Trends Letter, but do let me know if you have specific questions about the prime London property market.