Comment: A look back at a local year in property

2018 is almost here, but before we start obsessing about being booze, sugar and fun-free for the foreseeable, there’s time for a quick look back at this last year in property.

So what sorts of Herts home-related stories do we really like reading? If the list of our most popular online articles from 2017 is anything to go by, those that involve controversial developments, quizzes and/or Cheryl Tweedy all score highest.

Two Marshalswick mansions with multi-million pound price-tags really captured our imagination earlier this year and we haven’t stopped talking about them since.

Wick House and 53 The Park, with their polar opposite appeal - history and imposing elegance for the former and all the mod cons you could ever dream of in a new-build shell for the latter - proved the source of much debate on social media.

My look around 53 The Park was our most-read story of the year and the clicks were rolling in over on Zoopla, too, where it was one of the 10 most-viewed properties during August.

Love it or loathe it – and some people do seem quite angry about its mere existence – we can’t seem to stop talking about it.

Gabriel Square has also grabbed headlines – some of us can’t stand the sight of it, while others adore its modernist style.

We’re all dying to see the much-hyped garden square in its completed glory however, and its unveiling is sure to be one of the property highlights of 2018.

The news that Cheryl was ditching Radlett for a new life in Surrey with boyfriend Liam Payne was another of our most-read stories of the year, as was our peek inside the ex-Girls Aloud star’s £5m pad.

Unfortunately for Cheryl, her posh pad is still on the market nearly a year later - reduced to a much more bargainous £3,999,999 if anyone’s looking?

So what will 2018 have in store? More OTT dream homes, controversial new developments and celeb moves, with any luck.

Happy New Year!