"The biggest influence on house prices is supply and demand and that’s why our historic towns have seen a far stronger rate of house price growth over the last year, as they are largely restricted in terms of the properties reaching the market to satisfy buyer appetites"
- Adam Day - eXp UK
The latest research by eXp UK reveals that homebuyer appetite in England’s historic towns has pushed prices up by more than 3% in the past year, with commuter belt property hotspots also proving popular with a 2.9% increase in the average value of a home.
eXp UK has analysed and compared the past year’s average house price growth in England’s historic towns, university towns, manufacturing towns, commuter towns, and tech & media towns – using a sample of five towns in each category – to reveal which have recorded the most impressive price growth in the past 12 months, and which are struggling to keep up.
The data reveals that over the past year, England’s overall average house price has increased by +1.6% and now sits at £305,879.
With this in mind, perhaps the most striking takeaway from eXp UK’s research is that house prices in England’s new towns – including Stevenage, Warrington, and Basildon – have seen no growth at all.
A year ago, the average house price in ‘new towns’ was £325,219. Today it stands at £325,245, an increase of just £26.00. A significant contributor to this static growth is likely to be the high degree of new-build stock, with the premiums associated putting them out of reach for buyers during a period of higher mortgage rates.
Over the same 12 months, England’s university towns – including Durham, Oxford, and Nottingham – have seen an average house price increase of +2%, while the nation’s tech & media towns – including Salford, Swindon, and Bristol – have seen price growth of +2.3%.
England’s manufacturing towns, including Birmingham, Sheffield, and Hull, currently command an average price of £205,134 having seen a +2.8% increase over the past year, while commuter towns have seen an increase of +2.9% with the average price now sitting at £268,303.
A contributing factor to this strong price growth in commuter towns – such as St. Albans, Wolverhampton, and Bury – is the continued rise of remote working which means fewer and fewer people are required to be in the office every day and are, therefore, less tethered to living in major cities. Instead, they’re moving out to the commuter belt, increasing market demand and, therefore, pushing prices up.
But it’s England’s historic towns that continue to see the most impressive price growth. Over the past year alone, prices in the likes of Lincoln, York, and Canterbury have increased by +3.2% to sit at a current average of £322,801, which makes historic towns by far the most expensive of all of England’s town types.
Head of eXp UK, Adam Day, commented: “The biggest influence on house prices is supply and demand and that’s why our historic towns have seen a far stronger rate of house price growth over the last year, as they are largely restricted in terms of the properties reaching the market to satisfy buyer appetites.
"New towns, on the other hand, have plenty of scope for development, so even as demand rises, there is always plenty of stock to satisfy it which is one reason why prices have remained static over the past year not to mention the fact that many new towns will have a higher proportion of new-build stock which tends to command a hefty premium versus existing homes.
"We fully expect prices across the board to rise over the coming months. The nation seems to be finally coming out of what has been a fairly dark economic period for many, and even just a small brightening of the economic mood will be enough for lots of hesitant homebuyers to take a plunge into the market, increasing demand and, therefore, prices.”
