News to us.
Any number of factors could affect how your home might be valued on the market but we didn’t realise that your neighbours’ age demographic was one.
How old the people living around you are could actually have an impact on the price you’d get for your house if your chose to sell up.
According to US real estate company Trulia, we tend to live in areas with people in a similar age bracket to us.
This isn’t all that surprising if you think about it – a new housing development might attract young couples with families while a housing estate that’s been around for longer is more likely to have older residents.
People of working age tend to flock to high-industry areas where jobs are plentiful, the company says, causing property prices in these places to surge.
Places of outward migration, i.e. the places people of working age leave to find work, are more likely to have an older age demographic and to be cheaper to buy in.
It’s something to bear in mind if you’re ever considering selling up, Trulia advises.
If you hear that new jobs have been announced for your area or that a big company is coming to town, it could be a sign that your house will soon be worth a lot more, even if the age group around you is a little older.
That’s not the only way your neighbours can have an impact on your property value.
It’s also been proven that nuisances outside your control like next door’s overgrown garden or barking dog could depreciate your value by as much as five to ten per cent.
