Spend a few minutes scrolling through property portals like Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket and it can feel as though half of Bolton is up for sale. There are houses you recognise, new listings to investigate and properties you remember seeing several weeks (even months) ago.
So many of us scroll through the portals as a hobby, it’s a British obsession! All of us pay close attention to every new for sale board appearing on our street together with those along your usual route to work or when you drop the kids off at school. Yet those visible properties with their for sale boards represent a surprisingly small proportion of the homes around us.
Across the Bolton area (BL1-BL7 postcode districts), only one home in every 97 is on the market.
That figure comes from comparing the number of Bolton homes on the market with the total number of homes in the Bolton area (132,000). It works out at approximately 10.3 properties for every 1,000 Bolton homes, equivalent to 1.03%. Now it must be noted that this measurement is a snapshot of the first week in November, rather than how many properties sell over a year. It also means that around 99% of Bolton homes are not on the market. However, that small proportion available to buy is where anyone planning a move must find their next home.
How much choice do Bolton buyers really have?
Of course, not all Bolton homes are the same, and the amount of choice available to Bolton buyers varies considerably depending on the type of property they are looking for. Someone searching for a detached house faces a very different market from someone looking for a flat or a semi-detached home. When we break down the figures by property type, and then look at the individual postcode districts, some interesting differences begin to emerge.
- Detached Homes in Bolton – 1 in 53 homes are on the market
- Semi-Detached Homes in Bolton – 1 in 106 homes are on the market
- Terraced/Town Houses in Bolton – 1 in 121 homes are on the market
- Flats/Apartments in Bolton – 1 in 114 homes are on the market
And split down by postcode district …
- BL1 – 1 in 81
- BL2 – 1 in 122
- BL3 – 1 in 185
- BL4 – 1 in 139
- BL5 – 1 in 70
- BL6 – 1 in 71
- BL7 – 1 in 58
Why having so few Bolton homes for sale does not necessarily make selling easier.
For the individual Bolton homebuyer, the choice becomes considerably smaller once practical requirements enter the picture. Set a budget, choose your preferred locations and decide how many bedrooms you need, and plenty of listings disappear. Add parking, a manageable garden or somewhere suitable for working from home, and the shortlist contracts again. A property website might display hundreds of homes, yet only a handful may genuinely suit you.
However, there is another side to this story, and it is particularly important for anyone thinking of selling their Bolton home.
For every Bolton home that sold in October, six remained unsold.
Think about that for a moment. We have already established that only one in every 97 Bolton homes are on the market, yet even amongst that relatively small number, the majority did not find a buyer during October. Of course, not every property has been on the market for the same length of time, and many will sell in the coming weeks and months. Nevertheless, it is a useful reminder that having a home for sale and actually selling it are two very different things.
This is where being realistic becomes so important. Bolton buyers are not simply choosing whether they like your home. They are deciding whether they like it enough, at the asking price, to choose it over the other properties available. They compare space, condition, location, presentation and, perhaps most importantly, value for money. A home can be beautifully presented and still struggle to attract a buyer if the asking price does not reflect what else is available.
And there is another consideration that is sometimes overlooked. Most Bolton homeowners who are selling are also looking to buy somewhere else. Most are moving up the ladder and some are downsizing or simply looking for a different type of home. That means they are experiencing both sides of the same property market. As a seller, they want to achieve the best possible price. As a buyer, they want to make sure they are not paying more than they need to.
What does this mean for your Bolton move?
The fact that only 1.03% of Bolton homes are on the market might initially sound like good news for sellers. Fewer homes available should mean less competition, should it not? Yet the October sales figures demonstrate why it is not quite that simple. A relatively small number of homes being available does not automatically mean that buyers will purchase them at any price.
For anyone planning to move in Bolton, the important thing is to look at the bigger picture rather than just one headline statistic. If you are buying, understand how much genuine choice you have within your budget and requirements. If you are selling, look carefully at the homes you will be competing against and ask yourself why a buyer would choose yours over any other (remember the one in six stat mentioned above).
Ultimately, moving home is rarely just about achieving the highest possible selling price or finding the cheapest property to buy. It is about making the two sides of your move work together. Getting your asking price right from the outset, understanding what buyers are looking for and being realistic about the homes available for your onward purchase can make all the difference.
After all, the objective for most Bolton homeowners is not simply to put their property on the market. It is to actually move home.
