What % to deduct for railway line?

[wowfudge]

We're going to get our house valued for sale and want to make sure we price it correctly. Trying to figure out ball park value ourselves first. How much would you deduct from a valuation for a railway line at the bottom of a long garden? Approx 5 trains an hour at peak times.

The reason I ask is because the more recent sales on the street have been of the houses with gardens backing onto the railway line, so I would expect ours to be worth more because our garden backs onto someone else's. Traditional 3 bed semi with gardens front and back plus garage.

I would think that the percentage depends on where you are in the country. In London with a commuter overground/ Thameslink in your back garden and a station around the corner is going to be deducting less than a rural village/ town property that doesn't benefit from the train line at all.

In some areas in would add a premium because of the proximity to a rail network so this is a difficult question.

Just get 3 agents in to see and quote?

I'm confused - does your garden back onto the railway or not?

As you are still very close to the line I wouldn't imagine it would make any difference.

Some people will avoid and others will like the idea.

We back onto a railway in South London, and I am not aware that it caused a reduction in the value of the house. In fact the train station only 200 yards up the road was seen as a bonus......

None. You don't have hedge disputes with trains or loud parties from them.

Aspect is more important. I would expect a house with a south /South-west facing rear garden to be more expensive.

(I live by a railway line btw and it's not in the least disruptive).

What you're saying is how much cheaper would the recent house sale prices have been because those properties back directly onto the line, whereas yours doesn't i.e. house backing on to the line recently sold for £x so is yours likely to be worth £y or £z?

I think there's a lot more to it than that, no simple calculations, get the three valuations and have a think about what they say.

do the estate agents not know about the railway line?

Surely they will give you a price based on everything...size, rooms, décor, situation?

Interesting range of comments - thank you.

What's confusing? - our garden backs onto someone else's. Houses across the street have gardens backing onto the railway line.

The noise from trains is considerable in the rear gardens of the houses opposite. We have none of that apart from the occasional rumble of a freight train or a horn sounding. We're 60m away from the line (front boundary).

Whenever I've seen anything on TV where houses are close to railway lines, it's always been viewed negatively so I'd assumed would detract from value. We're a five minute drive from a mainline station in a suburban area.

We have just bought a house which backs onto a railway line. We probably got a bit more for our money because of it, but only about 5% less. The vendors priced it realistically and held an open house. There were five asking price offers on the day, four of which were from chain-free buyers, so there is no shortage of people who are quite happy to live next to railway lines.

This article was in the Sunday Times a few weeks ago on just this issue - apologies for paywall: www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/homes_and_gardens/Move/article1596110.ece

Asking prices are all over the place so I was trying to see if we could get a handle on it ourselves. Also don't want to be misled into going with too high a valuation/sale price and being stuck without a sale.

Thank you Dolores.

Ah, I understand. Your initial question asked how much you would deduct from the house backing onto the line, and I didn't appreciate that you were doing this process in reverse for your own house. Apologies.

How long are the gardens that back onto the railway line and how close is the line to the station (makes a difference re noise?)

Is your house overlooked at the back?

A lot of variables, really. I'd much rather live with a train line at the back than be overlooked by other houses so some will rule yours out on that basis.

Our rear garden is long - we aren't overlooked. The house is in an elevated position at the front too so passersby can't look in. The houses opposite are street level.

Have you looked on zoopla for the change in price % of other houses on the road, then tried to apply that to your house?

Eg if 5 years ago the house opposite cost £300k, and is now worth £350k it has risen in price by 1/6 in 5 years. You could then work out the potential rise in price of yours (eg 1/12 if you bought 2.5 years ago). I think my maths is right there (!!!) and that is the way I would try it.

I'd say it makes little difference. Some people will be put off by the noise, others will love the fact that there are no neighbours at the back. Most people will be out most of the day and its one of those things (such as road noise or aircraft noise) that you don't notice is there once you live there and get used to it.

I would be guided by the value of the houses on the road, irrespective of which side of the road they are.

When you say your house is elevated (not at street level) does the front or back garden slope? That may impact on value too. As others have said, there are numerous things that impact on value but certainly you can't be arbitrary about a deduction just because of the railway line in my view.

We lived on a road like this in SE London, One side backed into the railway and had longer gardens. Other side of the road didn't back onto railway. When we sold our 3 bed semi backing into railway with 90ft garden a similar one on the other side of road with 45ft garden and similar condition was about £10k more expensive, at the time that equated to about 5%. Now the difference would be about £25k, still about 5%. However the pool of buyers for our house was smaller as some wouldn't even consider viewing it.

Thanks all. Petts - that's really interesting. There's another house on the same side as ours currently for sale - it's not directly comparable to ours as it has been extended. There's therefore a huge difference between the asking price for that house and the one opposite us which sold earlier in the year.

mandy our house is built into a hill so street level front garden with a couple of steps up to the ground floor. We have cellars - at the back of the house they are at ground floor level. The rear garden is terraced.

Do you mean the garden is stepped (at different levels)? That would probably make a difference to saleability too (if not asking price). Sounds like it is a quirky road, with lots of different factors to take into account so you might struggle to come up with your own valuation.

Maybe get 3 or 4 estate agents in rather than 2 or 3 to get more opinions?

Which is exactly why I sought views on the likely effect of proximity to the railway line on the houses opposite in order to put a figure on that element

The rear garden is terraced/stepped on three levels - it's massive and one of the things that attracted us to the place. The largest section - big enough for kids to play football on, etc is the lower part with the back of the garden up a few steps. That section is relatively small with fruit trees, etc.

I think the thread demonstrates that everything is subjective - I wouldn't consider a stepped garden because I have young children but I wouldn't mind the railway line because it would mean we have no neighbours at the back.

But if your house has cellars (which houses on the other side of the road don't) and maybe more potential to extend - those would massive attractions for me worth paying extra for as we wouldn't need to move ever for a long time.

It's totally subjective. I'd probably prefer not to have the railway line at the end of my garden and would value a property lower for that, but a garden that got the sun in the afternoon and evening would add value for me and so would not being overlooked by other houses.

A house with a cellar and a slope behind would put me off. I much prefer the garden to slope away from the house if it has to slope at all.

If the houses were the same size, construction and maintenance standard then everyone will have their own plus and minus points and their own ideas of the relative worth or negative pricing for them too.

Dare I question the parking situation?

It doesn't have a slope behind it! There is a driveway which slopes to the huge garage.

The drive is at the front