Hotspots bucking the trend
House prices have dropped once again – but it’s not all doom and gloom. Here are the...
THINK again if you believe every corner of Britain has seen house prices tumbling thanks to high inflation and soaring interest rates.
Despite the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announcing earlier this week that house prices in the UK have dropped £6,000 in 12 months (faster than they have in more than 12 years), there are surprisingly large number of areas that have bucked the trend, giving hope that the 2024 housing market may be better than some predict.
Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax Mortgages, says national economic woes have been outweighed by local factors in many places.
‘House prices can be swayed by the number of homes for sale, the local jobs market and services like education and transport,’ she says.
And Nathan Emerson — chief executive of estate agents’ body Propertymark — adds: ‘It’s inevitable the market becomes more fragmented than usual with some geographical areas performing better than others. Some parts of the UK have maintained stability with house prices, while some homeowners have actually seen their homes increase in value.’
Here are some of the big winners over the past year, despite economic headwinds.
Falmouth, Cornwall
THERE’S been a marginal increase in house prices here, according to property consultancy Dataloft. At the end of 2022, a typical home in the town sold for £350,184, but a year later it was £356,561. This pretty, busy port hosts
two university campuses so has a younger and more affluent population than most of Cornwall, producing a far wider range of restaurants, clubs and shops than usually found in the far South West.
The actor Steve McFadden — who plays EastEnders hardman Phil Mitchell — has a second home in the town. It’s not far from the house formerly owned by Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson, who quit the Cornish port in 2020 when his career relaunched: he now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio UK.
Ealing, West London
THE Halifax says the typical home here was £494,100 a year ago, but now it’s up to £531,127 — a healthy 7.5 per cent rise.
Much of the increase is down to the regeneration of the main shopping area and the arrival of Elizabeth Line, formerly known as Crossrail.
It takes a mere 12 minutes to get from Ealing Broadway to Paddington, and just 25 minutes to reach Tottenham Court Road in the heart of the capital.
Ealing has its fair share of celebrity residents — Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker lives there with his ex-Blue Peter presenter wife, Konnie Huq — while it’s also home to more village-style living than most of the capital, courtesy of a Saturday Farmers’ Market and The Avenue Vintage and Antiques Market which draws crowds from across London.
Powys, Wales
THE Halifax says this has seen huge annual house price growth of 17.4 per cent. That’s taken the typical home from £216,307 to £253,958.
Powys is the largest, but least densely populated county in Wales, much loved for its villages and market towns, and featuring a stunning landscape of valleys and mountains including most of Brecon Beacons National Park.
Welsh singer Charlotte Church spent 18 months renovating the Powys pile Rhydoldog House — the former home of designer Laura Ashley — into a health
retreat called The Dreaming. ‘ It’s for healing through beauty and wonder. It’s for everyone: affordable and inclusive, where anyone can learn to heal and even become the healer that their community needs,’ says the star.
Ex- Neighbours star Mark Little is another resident, in a farmhouse near Lake Vyrnwy and enjoys turning out for a local cricket team.
Exeter, Devon
PRICES in Exeter continued to rise in 2023, with a typical home costing £325,878, according to online agency Purplebricks. The city has won a higher profile, thanks to its university joining the elite Russell Group and the premiership Exeter Chiefs rugby union club operating from a purpose-built ground with its own hotel.
There’s been a high volume of new housing built around the city, but the most popular suburb is one of its oldest. Topsham on the River Exe is an eclectic mix of 18th-century Dutch-gabled houses, renovated workers’ cottages and waterside villas.
Newly knighted Brexiteer pub king Sir Tim Martin lives here, while celebrity chef Michael Caines runs the nearby Michelinstarred Lympstone Manor restaurant, hotel and vineyard.
Huddersfield, Yorkshire
IT’S famous as the birthplace of former Dr Who Jodie Whittaker and Labour ex-Prime Minister Harold Wilson, but now this Yorkshire market town — nestled in the foothills of the Pennines — is in the news because typical house prices are up from £ 253,301 to £ 275,438, according to Halifax.
Local agents say the 8.7 per cent rise is down to the working-from-home trend, with many who would have moved to the likes of Manchester or Birmingham now wanting larger properties in the town with space for home offices.
They say the same goes for Bradford, another West Yorkshire town, where prices have gone up 8.5 per cent.