Property hotspots of 2009!
Nationwide reveals house prices rose 3.4% last year, but were the property hotspots near you?
2009 was never going to be a great year for the property market, but the latest figures from Nationwide reveal better than expected news. Most UK regions saw property prices rise with the average up 3.4%* on the year. The average home is now worth £162,116.
In fact, prices across the UK rose by 1.6% in the final quarter of the year, boosting the annual rate of change from -3% in the third quarter to +3.4% as the year drew to a close.
That's a fantastic sign for homeowners everywhere...isn't it?
Unfortunately, there's one pretty big problem with national averages - it totally masks regional variations. UK house prices may indeed have risen 3.4% in 2009 on average, but does that mean prices have also stepped up where you live?
Luckily, the good people at Nationwide have also revealed how the property market has fared in each region of the UK. This makes a massive difference since prices in the best performing region rose 7% in 2009, but fell 6.7% in the worst performing region.
Let's take a look at the top five property hot spots - and worst cold spots - of 2009:
Top five property hotspots by region in 2009
|
Region |
Annual % change |
Average price |
|
Greater London |
7% |
£276,088 |
|
Outer Metropolitan |
6.4% |
£232,198 |
|
Outer South East |
5.5% |
£191,397 |
|
East Anglia |
4.5% |
£159,989 |
|
South West |
3.8% |
£179,425 |
Bottom five property cold spots by region in 2009
|
Region |
Annual % change |
Average price |
|
Northern Ireland |
-6.7% |
£137,949 |
|
North |
-2% |
£116,154 |
|
Wales |
-0.3% |
£135,776 |
|
Scotland |
1% |
£140,352 |
|
West Midlands |
2.1% |
£144,748 |
As the table shows property prices grew a healthy 7% in London making it the top performing region of the year with an average price of £276,088. Having said that, not all London boroughs experienced such strong growth. The borough of Barking and Dagenham fell 12% with average prices almost 40% below the London average at £175,296. On the other hand, homeowners in Tower Hamlets will be pleased to know prices rose a whopping 14% over the year.
Past data has always revealed a distinct divide between the north and south of the country, with higher house prices and faster house price growth the further south you go. Certainly, the figures for 2009 continue to bear this trend out.
Once again, the southern regions have far outdone those in the north. The North region - which includes County Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, Teeside and Tyne and Wear - was the only English region which failed to produce positive growth in 2009 with an annual price change of -2%.
But the poorest performing region in the whole of the UK was Northern Ireland with an annual change of -6.7%. As if that wasn't bad enough, Northern Ireland was the only region where prices didn't rise in the final quarter of the year.
And it's more bad news for homeowners in the sub-region of Northern Ireland (West) where prices fell 14% on the year. In this area higher levels of unemployment have undoubtedly impacted negatively on the local property market.
Top towns and cities
But this data still hasn't gone far enough. Let's break it down even further and check out where the hotspots and cold spots are for the housing market in specific UK towns and cities:
Top five property hotspots by town/city in 2009
|
Town/City |
Annual % change |
Average price |
|
Carlisle |
10% |
£136,666 |
|
Canterbury |
8% |
£213,679 |
|
Leeds |
6% |
£175,139 |
|
Sheffield |
6% |
£169,787 |
|
Cardiff |
5% |
£198,200 |
Bottom five property cold spots by town/city in 2009
|
Town/City |
Annual % change |
Average price |
|
Leicester |
-9% |
£141,643 |
|
Nottingham |
-6% |
£131,156 |
|
Sunderland |
-5% |
£127,482 |
|
Birmingham |
-5% |
£157,891 |
|
Belfast |
-4% |
£196,856 |
Once again there's a huge difference between best and worst performing places. In 2009, the Cumbrian town of Carlisle experienced the strongest house price growth with a rare double-digit increase of 10%. This lifted the average house price in the town to £136,666.
This is particularly interesting because the north region as a whole was the worst performer of all the English regions, yet it is home to the top performing town in the UK. Explain that, if you will!
Meanwhile Leicester, in the East Midlands region, was the worst performing city. Average house prices fell miserable 9% in 2009, dragging the average price down to £141,643.
In summary....
Overall, the tide does appear to be turning at last with a general rise in house prices across the UK last year - at least, according to the Nationwide index. But the property market has clearly experienced mixed fortunes when it comes to specific towns and regions. This makes it exceptionally difficult to draw any concrete conclusions on where prices will head in 2010, but watch out for a second article later this week where I'll summarise some of the major house price predictions for the New Year.
In the meantime, if you're wondering whether now is a good time to buy or sell, why not ask other lovemoney.com homeowners for their opinions using our Q&A tool. And if you've already made the decision to move, make sure you adopt our Sell your home goal for all our tips on how to get the best price for your property.
*The annual change is calculated based on quarterly average figures.
More: How house prices have changed around the world | The winner for 2009: shares or property?
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Comments
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Young people Vs older generation and house prices..... I'm afraid there is a endemic problem with universities informing their undergrads that the streets are paved with gold, that employers will be clamouring to give them highly paid jobs right out of the box and that the world owes the clever young things a favour. When this fails to materialise with no effort, then the world is just not fair is it, add this to 'expensive houses' and the world is ruined! This comment from a 'young' (ish - 10 yrs post grad, 7 yrs post grad partner, both leaving with 'debt') university educated professional. I seem to remember taking poorly paid grad jobs (with prospects), renting, saving, shopping for yellow labels and generally not being 'able' to afford the house I was told I would be living in. All change now and we've just spent three years and a good chunk of hard earned cash on building a home. What we now need is a CG tax (on the money I have paid corporation, PAYE and divdend taxes on already) and for the price to fall so that our grads and 'young' folk can afford to buy them as well as get a nice car on credit and go on a few holidays whilst wearing expensive jeans. Grrrr
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How about this for an angle then (and it makes me sound like a real old crusty). My generation did without at the beginning to have money to spend later in life. The current generation wanted/expected everything early on without realising it would have to be paid for later - which is where we are now with the credit crunch. Don't expect me to pay for your mistakes. I paid my way through college - no grant or any hope of getting into university. And I'm hoping for a reasonable pension, but then I have been paying into it for 39 years. Of course, your credit crunch may mean that I don't get quite as much as I might have done. I may not have experienced unemployment (yet), but that does mean that I have spent the whole of my working life paying tax, and have never been in receipt of any welfare benefits. I wouldn't mind a free bus pass, a winter fuel allowance and my old age pension at 65, but it looks as if David Cameron or Gordon Brown will soon be moving the goal posts on all of those. In previous elections I have tried to vote for what I though best for the country, but this time I'll be thinking much harder about whats best for me. It looks as if my generation could be in control of who wins. There are more of us and we are more likely to vote than younger people. Of course I'm trying to do what I can for my own kids, but they know that like me, you only get something out of life if you are prepared to put some effort in to start with. That seems to have strayed quite a long way from the property market. Perhaps I should just book straight into sheltered housing and get out of the property market all together!
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Bimber's right. The whole thing is going to leave the country with big problems, ultimately with the current young generation in a far poorer position than their parents or grandparents. So the favour to yourself is only to you. It's a shame, because there has generally been a sense of fairness in Britain, which seems to have diminished a great deal over the last twenty years.
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12 January 2010