Go North, young man
Boris has promised to help former Labour seats and already the market’s picking up
FOR most of this century, London and the South-East have grabbed the property market headlines. But now, as a new decade approaches, the focus is shifting to the North — and to the NorthEast in particular.
The number of constituencies in this region that turned blue, as the Tories took aim at Labour’s red wall of northern and Midlands seats, was the election’s biggest shock. Even Sedgefield, the former constituency of Tony Blair, backed Boris.
Now people are asking when the neglected NorthEast will benefit from more investment. The Prime Minister tells us that he loves buses. Can he bring more of them to the NorthEast to speed workers to new jobs, and revive house prices in a part of the UK where the spectre of negative equity stalks terraced streets?
The average house price in the North- East — £127,570 — remains about 6 per cent below its level in 2007, before the financial crisis. Since that time, the average property value in England — £248,939 — has risen by about 28 per cent.
More spending on buses and other infrastructure is essential if the North-East’s loyalty to Labour is to be permanently severed.
There are tentative signs of a change in the mood of househunters, with some estate agents in the NorthEast reporting a pick-up over the past few days. People who were sitting on the fence are deciding to ‘move on’ and conclude their deals. They may not believe that Boris will immediately play Santa to the North-East, but they are hoping for the best.
Jonathan Corless of estate agent Countrywide ( countrywide.co.uk), says: ‘ In our Durham office, which serves the city and places nearby, such as the towns of Sedgefield and Bishop Auckland, we’ve just had our best week for sales this year, even though it’s so close to Christmas.’
Every such expression of optimism, however, is followed by an ‘if’: ‘If only there were better trains. If only we were more like Manchester — look what’s happened there to house prices and jobs.’
In line with these sentiments, Corless adds: ‘The Government has to take the North seriously. There are homeowners here who bought in the mid-Noughties who are in negative equity.’
Such North-East constituencies as Darlington (where the average house price is £133,490), redcar (£118,536) and Stockton South (£135,672) fell to the Conservatives as the red wall was breached.
The average price in
Darlington, south of Durham, is 7.3 per cent below its 2007 level, according to the BuiltPlace database.
The average house price in Sedgefield is £118,536. represented for 24 years by Blair, the area takes in the village of Trimdon, where the Blairs lived in Myrobella House, bought for £27,000 in 1983.
Even before the election, the outlook for the property markets of the North was predicted to be brighter, based largely on their affordability.
Savills ( savills.com), the estate agency, is forecasting a 1.5 per cent rise next year in the North-East and an increase of 19 per cent by 2024.
In recent years, the most enthusiastic housebuyers in the North-East have been buy-to-let investors, in search of rental yields of 8 to 9 per cent. Some experts contend that optimism could spread to residents in Newcastle and the surrounding area.
As many as 36 per cent of Newcastle University students stay on in the city after they have graduated. More would be tempted to do so if the city could compete with Manchester’s diverse career opportunities.
In rushyford, not far from Sedgefield, a fourbedroom house is on the market for £ 950,000. It comes with an indoor pool, tennis courts and a stream running through the grounds. Who needs the South-East?