House price boom spreads North: Property hot spots popping up all over the country as average value tops £260,000
07-24-2014
The average value of a home in Britain rose by 6.5 per cent in six years
Salford in Greater Manchester saw the biggest increase, up 12 per cent
By Hugo Duncan
Property hot spots are popping up all over the country as the recovery in house prices spreads beyond London, figures showed yesterday.
The average value of a home in Britain rose by 6.5 per cent or £90 a day to £260,488 in the first half of the year, according to the report.
Salford in Greater Manchester saw the biggest increase, up 12 per cent to £138,619, but homes there still cost around a quarter of those in London where prices jumped 8.2 per cent to £567,392.
The northern town has benefited from major regeneration in recent years including the BBC’s move to Media City UK in 2011.
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The average value of a home in Britain rose by 6.5 per cent or £90 a day to £260,488 in the first half of the year
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The average value of a home in Britain rose by 6.5 per cent or £90 a day to £260,488 in the first half of the year
Around 2,700 BBC staff now work in Salford across 26 departments including BBC Breakfast, BBC Sport and BBC Radio 5 Live.
A number of highly-paid executives have moved from London to the region boosting demand for expensive homes.
Other towns to see house price gains of close to 12 per cent in the first half of the year include Brough in Yorkshire, St Leonards-On-Sea in East Sussex, Tavistock in Devon and Hunstanton in Norfolk.
Lawrence Hall, a spokesman at Zoopla, said: ‘Homeowners up and down the country are starting to see the benefits of the recovery as home values make further headway in 2014.
‘Over the past few years Salford especially has prospered from job creation in the area which has helped boost the local property market.
‘Property price growth has largely been a London and South East story until recently, so it is very encouraging to see the house price recovery broadening and the ripple effect starting to take hold further north.’
Salford has benefited from major regeneration in recent years including the BBC¿s move to Media City UK in 2011
Rising house prices will be welcomed by owners but will fuel fears that the young are being squeezed out of the property market.
The National Association of Estate Agents this week said a tiny 3 per cent of house sales last month were to those aged 18 to 30 down from 12 per cent in August.
Many hard-pressed young families are struggling to get on the housing ladder as muted wage growth, soaring prices and tough new mortgage rules are taking their toll.
But the Zoopla report showed ‘a few weak spots’ in the market including in Scotland where prices are up just 1.1 per cent to £170,800 ahead of the referendum on Scottish independence in September.
‘Towns on the England-Scotland border are likely suffering from caution amongst buyers ahead of the referendum,’ said Mr Hall.
The worst performing tow in the UK was Wadebridge in Cornwall where prices fell 2.1 per cent in the first half of the year to £342,192.
The slump meant prices fell by nearly £40 a day in the Cornish town – a far cry from the £236 a day rise seen in London.
House prices in Ryton in Tyne and Wear were down 1.9 per cent while they fell 1.6 per cent in Newton-Le-Willows in Merseyside.
The sun comes out and house prices go up
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