By New data from online estate agents Housesimple has reviewed the Land Registry’s property sales data to reveal a list of the top northern cities and towns in the UK that have witnessed the largest increase in property sales so far in 2018.
Blackpool, Durham and Lancaster were all leading the pack with the biggest increase in house sale transactions between the first and second quarters in 2018. These were the only major cities across the north of England to have achieved this amount of growth in property sales.
According to the new data, property sales increased in the second quarter of 2018 in Durham by 15.4 per cent, while Blackpool saw a 17 per cent rise. And in Lancaster, property sales increased by 16.6 per cent.
Housesimple’s data included over 60 cities and towns across the UK in order to reveal the best performing locations for completed house sales.
Seven out of ten towns and cities that saw the highest levels of property sales between the first and second quarter in 2018 were in the north of England, which is an average increase of 3 per cent in house sales for these locations.
The other areas across the UK that recorded a steep increase in the number of house sales following Durham were Swindon with 11.8 per cent; Hartlepool with 8.9 per cent; Leicester with 7.4 per cent; Middlesbrough with 7.4 per cent; with Warrington, Gloucester and Newcastle all reporting a 7.2 per cent increase following closely behind.
Interestingly, out of the ten towns and cities that have witnessed a sharp decrease in the number of property sales over the same time period, nine were recorded in the south of England. The worst-hit towns located just outside of London were Luton which saw a dip in their house price sales by a whopping 21.1 per cent, while Bedford witnessed a 16.1 per cent decrease.
This new data from Housesimple has revealed that the north-south property divide is still going strong as the number of completed house sales outside of London has increased by 3 per cent on average in the second quarter of 2018 compared to the first. The number of completed house sales in the south fell by 4.3 per cent on average during the same period.
CEO of Housesimple, Sam Mitchell, commented on the results: “Land Registry figures show clearly that the north-south property divide has been turned on its head. Properties, particularly family homes, are still affordable in the north and with thriving local economies attracting workers to the region, stock is being snapped up in major cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.”
“Although the impact of heightened demand is likely to see house prices rise in the north, there is still plenty of room for growth; and Brexit fears should prevent the market form over-heating to the extent we saw in London and surrounding areas over the past decade.”
These locations in the north of England have done well in terms of the highest levels of house sales, according to the Housesimple data. According to the recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) House Price Index data, which was released last week, the North East of England’s property prices are the only region that hasn’t yet started to recover to the same pre-economic downturn levels.
According to ONS data, both the West Midlands and the East Midlands have seen a year-on-year increase in property prices of 6.1 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, the South East and the East of England’s house prices continue to remain relatively strong with average house prices reaching £328,000 and £294,000.
Comments