House prices in Tory seats rise 8 times faster than in Labour ones
01-13-2015
By Jim Pickard and Kate Allen
For Sale sign
©Bloomberg
Homes in Conservative constituencies outside London have seen house price inflation at eight times the rate of Labour equivalents over the past five years, according to new data.
The research by Savills, the property agents, highlights the “two-speed” nature of Britain’s housing market. It showed that the total value of housing in Tory areas outside the capital rose 16 per cent, in Liberal Democrat areas 8 per cent and in Labour seats 2 per cent since the last general election.
The data also reveal that homes in Tory constituencies are worth 64 per cent more on average than those in Labour seats — a gap of nearly £100,000. The typical home in a Tory area is valued at £252,083 against the £153,843 fetched by an average property in a Labour-held seat.
The UK’s ‘two speed’ housing market is not a novel concept, but new figures highlight the regional and political split like never before
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“The homeowning Conservative voter has generally done very well over the past five years,” said Lucian Cook, director of residential research at Savills. He added that it showed “the maintenance of a consistent housing policy is difficult”.
The Tories have been accused of formulating policies that help older, more affluent voters, who tend to live in Conservative-held seats. Ministers have ringfenced benefits for wealthy pensioners, while making substantial public spending cuts elsewhere. Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader, recently accused the Tories of “looking after their own” rather than governing for the many.
Conservative ministers have resisted the idea of a mansion tax, in contrast to Labour and the Lib Dems. The data from Savills provide a clear explanation of why it might not appeal to them.
However, the Tories introduced a new model of stamp duty in the Autumn Statement that will mean even bigger payments for anyone buying a home worth more than £930,000. Conservative strategists insist this is proof that they are not favouring wealthy property-owning voters.
Across Britain’s 100 most marginal constituencies, Conservative seats have seen higher house price rises than those in Labour hands, Savills found. The most marginal constituencies have a higher rate of home ownership than the national average, according to Savills. This suggests that policies which support house prices are likely to find favour with voters in these areas.
The research shows that properties in the 20 most expensive constituencies in the UK are worth 13 times more than those in the 20 cheapest.
The top 20 seats by value, of which 11 are held by Conservative MPs, have property worth a total of £741bn. The cheapest 20 seats, of which 15 are represented by Labour, are collectively worth just £57bn.
That total figure is less than any of the three most valuable seats in the country: Cities of London and Westminster (£78.8bn), Kensington (£74.8bn) and Chelsea and Fulham (£61.8bn).
On a national basis property values have grown 19 per cent in Labour-held seats in the past five years — not far behind the 23 per cent increase in value in Tory-held constituencies.
The pattern of political control and housing would be more straightforward if it was not for London — which tends towards Labour despite being the most affluent part of the country. In Greater London there are 38 Labour seats, 28 Tory seats and seven held by the Liberal Democrats.
All of the five Labour seats in the 20 most expensive areas are based in London: Westminster North, Hampstead and Kilburn, Holborn and St Pancras, Hammersmith, Tooting and Islington South and Finsbury.
Only when Savills stripped out London from its calculations did it see a very different pattern, with property values rising dramatically faster in Tory and Lib Dem constituencies during the boom of recent years.
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