Surging electric car sales leads to two tier housing market

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Houses with off-road parking space will not only command a higher sale price, the rental value will also be boosted as more people buy electric cars.

Surge in EV sales

The electric vehicle (EV) market is booming, which will inevitably have its impact on property prices. With a limited number of charging points on the road network, having a home charging point is an absolute necessity for most electric car owners.

According to the latest vehicle statistics, electric car sales nearly doubled during Covid in 2020, and EV sales enjoyed another record year in 2021 – more battery electric vehicles were sold than over the previous five years combined, hitting nearly 12 percent of all new car sales, and another 7 per cent were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, making nearly one-fifth overall.

January to May 2022 saw electric car sales statistics continuing their record sales growth. March 2022 saw the highest volume of battery only registrations ever recorded in a single month – as a result electric vehicles of all types comprised just short of 28 percent of all new car registrations during April following the March 1 plate change.

Now, with soaring fuel prices, there’s another reason for people to go electric. Coupled with the Covid effect of increased demand for more space – home offices and gardens – the soaring fuel prices are resulting in even higher demand for electric vehicles, clear signals that properties with driveways and more space will command premium prices.

Savills confirms it has seen a surge in demand for houses with off road parking and more space for home working, office / garden /garage.

In the London suburbs Savills says that homes with driveways now command a 5 per cent premium over similar properties without the facility to charge a vehicle. But in the most expensive parts of the city this premium can increase to one-third – a full 33 per cent higher price with a driveway, even more that the premium a large garden usually commands. 

More space and a driveway give value boost

A big garden, says Savills, is still worth more than a driveway in some of the more leafy parts of London,  where they will increase a property’s value by as much as 10pc.

The nationwide dearth of vehicle charging points means that the house price premium for homes with off-street parking is likely to be with us for some time. According to Savills, a home with a driveway in suburban London could add £23,500 to the price of a £500,000 home.

Will Watson, of agents The Buying Solution, told The Daily Telegraph that off-street parking in London could easily add as much as 20pc to the price of a family home. He says: 

“The huge concern for London is that people will have an issue charging electric vehicles if they don’t have a parking space. This premium is set to potentially get a lot higher.”

So far these price premiums have mostly affected the capital, that’s because London has been the place in the country where most people have been purchasing electric cars. However, property experts are predicting that this price-premium is set to spread fast to other prime commuter towns in the home counties and beyond.

Lucian Cook, of Savills, Head of Residential Research and one of the country’s most respected housing market commentators, having been a director in the Savills research team since 2007, said that the places in the country where electric vehicle ownership greatly outnumbers charging points are those most likely to see a big impact on home values. He says: 

“As the gap between demand for electric cars and public charging points grows, we can expect to see homes that offer private charging provisions to come at a premium.”

Likewise, Charles Davenport, of Knight Frank estate agents’ in Elmbridge, told The Daily Telegraph that off-street parking was becoming a deal-breaker for buyers with electric cars.

He said: “We had a house in Cobham and the couple looking at it had an electric car and they said sorry we can’t because there is no off-street parking and it is absolutely essential for us.” 

In the last two years, the combined number of electric cars registered has increased by nearly 200 percent, while the number of charging points has increased by only 72 percent.

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