House prices hit buffer along Southern Rail route

HOUSE prices along the train routes operated by Southern Rail have been hit by the chaos caused by strikes that paralysed the system amid a general slowdown caused by a lack of affordability.

Analysis of Zoopla data by online estate agency Housesimple found that while the average property in the South East has grown in value by 4.6pc in the last year, those places with stations along the three main Southern Rail routes reported growth of just 2.2pc.

Activity was down too: sales of homes along Southern Rail routes were down 21.2pc this year compared with the average annual sales rate over the past five years. Strike action that affected 300,000 passengers was called off by the ASLEF union in November after 18 months of dispute, with drivers given a 28.5pc pay rise over the next five years.

The impact on house prices is also compounded by slowing growth and activity in the market, as sky-high prices crunch affordability.

However, there were bright spots where annual price growth outpaced that of the regional average, such as Hove at 8.2pc and Redhill at 4.7pc. Housesimple looked at the stations in its network that are within a 100-minute journey of London. It found that in the last three months there had been a significant slowdown, with prices growing 0.75pc, compared with a UK figure of 2.4pc.

Alex Gosling, chief executive of Housesimple, said: “Until the dispute was resolved, there would have been plenty of buyers who would not have wanted to commit to such a large purchase.”