Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester are among the regional cities who have defied the post-Brexit vote uncertainty to post double-digit house price rises.
Zoopla’s latest UK Cities House Price Index includes an analysis of prices over a turbulent decade. It started with the global downturn in 2008/09, followed by a period of broad recovery before Britain’s decision to leave the EU in June 2016 sent shockwaves through the economy.
Hit the north for double-digit rises
The fastest growth in prices since the referendum is in Birmingham, where values have gone up by 16% to a current average of £163,400. Just behind is Manchester, which ties with Leicester on 15%, the north-west city showing prices at £168,000. And looking along the M62 sees Liverpool also recording a substantial growth rate since the Brexit vote with an 11% rise, properties there currently going for, on average, £122,000.
In sharp contrast, London has recorded an overall rise of just 1% over the same period. The capital led the recovery after the initial shock of the global downturn, reaching a peak of 18% growth in 2014. Cambridge – where 73.8% voted to Remain – has seen prices fall back by -4% since the referendum according to the Zoopla-Hometrack data.
Their report states that,
“…prices are set to continue growing at an above average rate in regional cities over 2019 with the highest growth rates in cities where the jobs market is strong.”
Regions set to build on strong base
Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool certainly meet that criteria, and the property markets in each begin 2019 in a strong position.
Liverpool led the Hometrack statistics back in September with a rise of 6.9%, and it enjoys a good reputation in the buy-to-let market as well. A Totally Money survey late last year showed the city had five of the country’s best yielding BTL postcodes, with L7 second overall with a yield of 9.79%.
The ongoing regeneration of the city centre continues apace, with a major development at Liverpool Waters under construction. Around 9,000 residential apartments, plus retail and leisure opportunities, are slated for the area on the riverside just to the north of the iconic Liver Building.
Everton FC are also keen to build a new stadium at nearby Bramley-Moore Dock, which would increase interest in the area.
Meanwhile, Manchester is set for a sustained spell of growth. EY recently predicted that employment in the city would grow by 1.2% in the next three years, the best performance of all the areas it has surveyed.
And in Birmingham, which outranks London in PwC’s ‘Emerging Trends in Real Estate’ report, employers such as HSBC and Deutsche Bank have moved in. Infrastructure projects like the HS2 rail link and building for the 2022 Commonwealth Games will bring in business, and people who need places to live.
